


The Final Chapter: A Dragon Age 4 story

by FanfictionNerd456



Series: The Heroes of the new Age [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Explicit Language, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2019-07-23 05:00:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 28,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16152116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanfictionNerd456/pseuds/FanfictionNerd456
Summary: Since Dragon Age 4 is not going to be released until 2020-2021, I took matters into my own hands. Be mindful that this is my first fanfiction, and my writing might be horrible. I'll try to do weekly updates as much as possible. Spoilers to all the Dragon Age games. Make sure to comment for feedback and kudos if you like my work. And as always, I don't own Dragon Age or anything related to it.





	1. Life After

The creaking of the branches. The sound of the lake. It all calmed him down. Nothing could’ve prepared him for what happened, but he wouldn’t have done it any other way or followed any other route. Sure, he had some regrets, but his happiness more than made up for it. He stepped out of the wood cabin and admired the forest. He venerated the trees, the lake, the peaks of the Vimmark Mountain range in the distance, the animals stepping with a spring in their step, everything. The only thing more beautiful than the landscape was his lover. *Ellana,* Max thought as he walked back into the cabinet. He winced as his stump of a left forearm hit the door and sent pain throughout his body.

“Vhenan, what are you doing up so early?” Ellana asked as she rubbed her eyes. “Love, go back to sleep,” he replies as he lied back down next to Ellana. “But what were you doing up so early?” “Just admiring what we’ve built after what happened,” Max replied as he stroked her hair and kissed her. A kiss, filled with love, care and passion. She returned the kiss with the same amount of love, care, and passion, as he thought, *Maker, I don’t deserve this woman. She came to me when I was my weakest, and she fixed me. She loved me, she cared for me, and now she’s with me, forever*. Max broke the kiss and laid back down. “Let’s just sleep. We have a lot of work to do,” Max said as he saw Ellana close his eyes, and he followed suit.

Twang, his bow vibrated as Max launched an arrow at the deer. It hit its mark, and the deer fell without a noise. *That’s one advantage of this stump,* Max thought as he detached his bow attachment for his stump. He walked over, and harvested the meat. He walked back to the wooden cabin as he saw the sun set. *Nothing can beat that view. Not even the flashiest cities, not the warmest meal. Well, nothing else except her,* he thought as he saw his lover make a fire  outside the cabin and cook the fish she caught during the afternoon. He brought the venison over and stoked it over the fire as it crackled and let out a warm aroma. Ellana leaned on his shoulder as they both reflected what happened the past four years.

First, Max had gotten the Mark and been called a criminal by the Chantry. Then he had met Ellana in the Hinterlands, and restored order to that region. After that, he traveled forward in time, where the Breach was grown and everyone was a shell of themselves. Then he had closed the Breach with the help of the mages. Then, Haven got destroyed, with the Inquisition finding Skyhold. Then they had stormed a Warden fortress and entered the Fade, where Hawke sacrificed himself. *Merrill probably still hasn’t forgiven me* Max thought. Then he had stopped an assassination attempt on Empress Celene and repaired her relationship with Briala. Morrigan had arrived after that, with Alistair’s son Kieran, and drank out of the Well of Sorrows. Then Corypheus opened the Veil again, with Max killing him. Then, Max disbanded the Inquisition after he learned that Solas was Fen’harel and planted spies in the Inquisition to help him to restore the Elven empire, which would be done by tearing the Veil down and destroying the world as they knew it.

“It really is a depressing life we lead, isn’t it Max?” Ellana asked as she snuggled into her lover under the stars.

“Not with you, my love. Not with you,” Max replied as he kissed her head and hugged her.


	2. An Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet an old friend. Descriptions of other companions post-trespasser

Knock knock. Knock knock. “Who is it?” Max asked grumpily as he slid out of his comfortable bed and walked over to the door. He opened it and saw an old friend.

 

“How has life treated you?” Lyna, formerly known as the Hero of Ferelden, asked as she looked at Max and Ellana. They were sitting on the grass outside the cabin as Lyna admired the scenery. The sky was foggy, with nothing but their cabin and the pine trees in sight. She could hear the lake slosh around, and the birds chirp as she relaxed. “Pretty well. It’s just Max and I, living in this cabin. Not far off is a town, where we trade our food for skins and stuff like that.” Ellana replied. “How’s life with Alistair?” Max asked as Lyna smiled. “He’s just lovely. We’re living in a small town where he’s the chief and I hunt and trade for goods,” Lyna replied. “How are everybody else?”

“Well, last I heard, Leliana’s doing fine as the Divine. The idea of the College is actually working out well, and the Templars are being accepting. Cassandra going around the continent, rebuilding the Seekers. Cullen is living with your sister Grace in South Reach. They are apparently married. Josephine returned to Antiva, where she’s acting as the head of House Montilyet. The Chargers are still mercenaries, with Bull in charge. Dorian’s become a magister in Tevinter. He’s trying to change how the world views Tevinter,” Lyna said as Max nodded. “You should really visit Merrill. She told me how she felt about Hawke, and since you were involved in his death, she wanted to talk to you,” Lyna said as Max fought back tears. He still felt guilty for Hawke’s death. For preventing him a life with the love of his life. For preventing him from spending time from his sister. For preventing him from creating a family, settling down, and enjoying peace. Like he had. “I will,” Max nodded as Lyna nodded. “Also, Varric wants to talk to you. Merrill and Varric are both in Kirkwall. So better get packing,” Lyna said as she got up started walking into the cabin to start making lunch.

“What things do you want to take with you?” Ellana asked as she and Max got up.

“I don’t know. Maybe a few attachments for my stump. A sword and shield?” Max thought out loud as they walked around.

“Add some food and a map to that list,” Ellana added as they stopped on of the forest. Pine trees surrounded them, with the sun glinting above the trees. They could see the snow-capped peaks of the mountains, the lake flowing around lazily, the bristles of the trees rocking back and forth to the wind.

“Add some aravels and some self-righteous elves to this landscape, and we’ve got ourselves a Dalish camp,” Ellana joked as she leaned into Max.

“Amen,” Max replied as he pulled Ellana into a kiss, beneath the beauty of nature.


	3. A Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another old friend is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is my World State for this story: https://dragonagekeep.com/en_US/iss/?worldState=050000010133000000111
> 
> (P.S The romance for the Inquisitor is Ellana Lavellan)

“What the fuck!?” Max yelled as Ellana and he dove to the side. They were on their way to Kirkwall, when suddenly a fade rift opened. “How are we going to close these when you don’t have a mark?” Ellana asked, readying her sword and shield. Max also quickly attached a shield attachment to his stump and pulled out a sword. Then, a red wraith came out of the rift, which didn’t attack them. “Woah, woah. Put your weapons away, I come in peace.” It said as it raised its hand in surrender. “Doesn’t that kinda sound like Hawke?” Ellana whispered to Max as she kept her guard up. Max nodded. “What are you?” Max asked.

“Oh hi Max. You might not believe me, but I’m Hawke. Or at least, my voice is Hawke. Try to wrap your head around this. Hey, why do you have a stump on your hand.” the spirit, or Hawke, asked. 

“Holy fuck,” Ellana muttered as she sheathed her sword and shield. Max sheathed his sword but still kept his shield on.

“How do we know you’re Hawke?” Max called out as the spirit sighed.

“Ask me any question that me when I was in the world would know the answer to,” the spirit replied.

“Who was the alternate sacrifice in the Fade?” Ellana suddenly called out.

“Easy. It was either Lyna or Alistair,” the spirit replied.

Max and Ellana looked at each other and at the spirit in surprise. He was right. In the Fade, there were only Max, Lyna, Alistair or Hawke. And Hawke sacrificed himself so everybody else could escape.

“I know right. I somehow survived. Anyways, if you want me to come back into the real world, you have to get this amulet to Merrill, and ask her to perform a Dalish ritual, on top of the Sundermount,” Hawke/the spirit said as he held out an amulet.

“Why Merrill? Why not any other Dalish elf?” Max asked as he took the amulet. 

“Because she understands the significance of this ritual more than anybody else. Farewell Max.”

The spirit replied as he faded out of existence and the rift closed by itself.

“Well, shit,” Max muttered as he and Ellana trekked onto Kirkwall with renewed vigor.

 

“Hello, Max. Hello Ellana,” Merrill greeted as Max and Ellana stepped in. The Amell estate didn’t change much, except for the fact that Merrill was alone. Merrill gestured them to sit on the couch, while she sat down on a chair. 

“I wanted to talk to you. About Hawke.” Merrill started as Ellana and Max looked at each other. *How are we going to tell her?* Ellana’s expression read. *I’ll figure it out.* Max’s expression replied.

“I want to tell you that I came to terms with his death. What was done was done, and I know that he is now with his Maker, waiting for me to join him when it’s my time. So I want to apologize. If I seemed like I blamed you for his death,” Merrill said calmly as Max sighed. Merrill noticed that his dark hair was still as spiky as it was. Ellana looked beautiful naturally, with her chestnut hair going over her face and her green eyes that would look at you and figure out all your tricks and plays. 

“Uh,” Max started as Merrill gestured him to continue. 

“Here’s the thing,” Ellana interrupted. “We found a way. To bring Hawke back to life.”

Merrill’s eyes lit up like candles.

“It’s not exactly bringing him back to life,” Max said. “Apparently, Hawke survived in the Fade, and he opened a rift and used a spirit to communicate with us. He told me to give you this amulet and perform a Dalish funeral ritual on top of the Sundermount,” he finished as he gave the amulet to Merrill. 

Merrill had tears in her eyes. She couldn’t even comprehend the fact that Hawke, her love, the man who prevented her from falling down the wrong path, was going to be alive.

Merrill nodded as she kept the amulet in her pocket, and gestured for them to get up.

“Come, I have something to show you.”

 

“Lucky! How’s life?” Varric cheered as Max, Ellana, and Merrill walked into the Viscount’s office. After the council, Varric became Viscount and started cleaning up the streets, making sure that Kirkwall is rid of its reputation as the “City of Chains”. 

“Pretty good Varric. How’s yours?” Max replied as he shook Varric’s hand with vigor. They had both gone through a lot. Max knew that he couldn’t replace Hawke in Varric’s eyes, but he still considered him one of his closest friends. 

“Come, I have something to show you,” Varric said as Max, Ellana, and Merrill sat down in front of his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a metallic hand.

“The fuck?” Max asked as Varric put the arm on the desk.

“It’s a metal prosthetic made by the dwarves in Kal-Sharok. One of their solutions to stop the blight from spreading was to amputate the infected limbs. To replace them, the dwarves made these,” Varric said as he handed the arm to Max. Max took his time to inspect the prosthetic limb. It was made out of some kind of metal, masterfully crafted. The fingers had the finest attention to detail, just like anything else.

“I figured out a way to get you your arm back,” Varric said as Max nodded. He told him about a ritual that would sever the stump and attach the metal arm to his body.

“Think about it,” Varric said as he walked out and gave Max a lot to think about.


	4. No Pain, No Gain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max undergoes a ritual. Also, there is a bad memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to user Isada for leaving Kudos.

“Are you sure about this Max?” Ellana asked as she and Max laid down on their bed. Merrill had graciously offered a guest room in the estate for them, which they gladly accepted.

“I want this, Ellana,” Max replied. “I want to feel useful again. Be able to have another hand. Not trouble you so much.” Ellana hugged him with tears in her eyes. 

“Whatever you do, love, I will follow you.” Ellana said as she pulled Max into a passionate kiss. He held her neck, his body touching hers. She breathed in his scent, reminding her of the winds at their cabin. She knew, he would do anything for her, and she would do anything for him. Max broke the kiss as he suddenly started crying.

“Hey, what happened?” Ellana asked as she stroked his face.

“I never got to say thank you. For being there for me. For rebuilding me, broken piece by broken piece. I would’ve literally committed suicide if you hadn’t taken care of me and helped calm my memories. And for also helping me when I lost a limb, and was as useful as a newborn babe.”

Ellana looked at him. Everybody else knew him as the former Inquisitor, a battle hardened man who was always there to help anybody. They looked at him as a god, as a legend, much like they looked at Lyna or Hawke. But the truth was, none of them were even close to gods. They were all human, with their own faults and their own problems. Lyna had to endure the discrimination and racism against elves as she sought to fight the ultimate evil. Hawke went to go from the poorest commoner to the Champion of Kirkwall, while losing almost all of his family along the way. Max was thrown out of the House of Trevelyan after a bad incident and had to survive on the streets for 8 years.

“Goodnight, Ellana,” Max said as he fell asleep hugging Ellana.

 

Max was in a room, tied up to a bed as he saw Merrill holding a saw. He howled in pain as Merrill cut the stump off his arm. The first few days with the stump had been horrible. Max fell down most of the time, and couldn’t do anything without the help of someone. He felt the same way now. Useless, broken. Waves of pain flowed throughout his body, The bare flesh made contact with the air and stung Max. 

“I’m sorry, but this pain has to be endured,” Merrill said as she picked up the metal arm and hoisted it against his arm. Then she muttered a spell as he felt fish hooks dig into his flesh. Max roared from the pain as the fish hooks made their way up to his arm and stopped at his shoulder.

“It is done,” Merrill finished as she stepped back and helped Max up. She opened the door as Ellana rushed in and hugged Max as hard as she could

Max found that he could move his arm again, even though it stung badly every time it did. He could move his fingers, his arm up and down, and he could finally pick his daggers up again. 

Ellana broke away as she hugged Merrill with the same vigor. 

“Thank you. For doing this,” Ellana said as she broke away again.

Merrill nodded. “So what about the amulet?” Max asked as he flexed his arm experimentally. 

“Oh, yes. I, uh, will pack my, uh, stuff and we shall leave in the morning,” Merrill stuttered as she walked away with a blush on her face. Max realized how nervous Merrill. All this time, she spent trying to come to terms with Hawke’s death, and Max had dropped a bombshell that Hawke was still alive. Max remembered how devastated she was in Adamant. 

 

_ Max fell out of the rift as he tumbled onto the stone floor. Lyna and Alistair followed suit, and they found themselves in the middle of the Grey Wardens. They all parted with awe as Max heard a voice, a voice saying something he did not want to hear at that moment. _

_ “Where’s Hawke?” Merrill asked as she stepped through the Wardens and searched for her love. _

_ Max stuttered and tried to explain what happened as Lyna walked over to him with Merrill.  _

_ “Tell her,” she ordered as Max sighed. _

_ “Merrill, we encountered a really big monster. Someone had to sacrifice themselves,” Max said as he saw tears build up in her eyes.  _

_ “Hawke ran towards the monster, sacrificing himself so that the rest of us could live,” Lyna interrupted as Max bent his head in lament.  _

_ “Max tried his best to restrict Hawke from going. He tried to convince Hawke to find another way to leave the Fade. Hawke wouldn’t listen to him. Before Max could react, Hawke ran toward the monster. It took me and Lyna to pull Max through the rift and stop him from saving Hawke and sacrificing himself,” Alistair added. _

_ Merrill fell down on her knees and started weeping. *Damn Corypheus. This is another person dead because of him. When I see him again, I’ll make sure to give him as painful a death as possible,* Max thought as everybody else bowed their heads in reverence to the Champion who sacrificed himself to save the world. _

 

Max shook his head to clear the memory. “Are you ready?” Ellana asked as Max nodded and headed back to their room in the estate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italicized text is a memory. Text enclosed in asterisks are thoughts.


	5. The Ritual

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just like what the title says, the ritual.

“hahren na melana sahlin

emma ir abelas

souver'inan isala hamin

vhenan him dor'felas

in uthenera na revas”

 

Merrill recited as Max, Ellana, and Varric stood behind her. They were on top of Sundermount, where Hawke from the Fade had told them to do the ritual. Merrill was on the brink of tears as she finished reciting and waited.

A second later, a crack ripped open the sky, with a man falling out of the fade rift.

This man had unruly hair, with a beard that was starting to grow. He had two daggers, both of them masterfully crafted. His armor was built to look like a hawk, with orange accents. And he had that stoic attitude. That’s all that mattered.

“Merrill!” Hawke yelled joyfully as he ran up to his Dalish lover and kissed her. Merrill was caught completely by surprise, one because she did not expect the ritual to work, and also because she did not expect Hawke to remember her. 

After a few blissful seconds, Hawke broke away as Merrill punched him.    
“That’s for leaving me,” She said. After that she hugged him tightly. “And that’s for coming back.”

 

“So, what did I miss?” Hawke asked. They were back at the Amell estate, Hawke and Merrill sitting opposite to Max and Ellana. 

“A lot,” Max said as Ellana filled him in on what happened. Including how Max had disbanded the Inquisition, and how Solas plans to rip the Veil apart to restore the Elven empire. 

“How did you survive Hawke?” Merrill asked with a mix of surprise and gratitude. 

“It was only a few minutes before when Max, Lyna, and Alistair left the Fade. I distracted the monster for a bit, and when they left, I ran. I saw a spirit trying to leave the Fade. That’s when I gave it my voice, and opened a rift to Max and Ellana,” Hawke said, gesturing to Max and Ellana. “I gave them the amulet, which the spirit said would open a rift momentarily when buried. Then I waited.”

“So what now?” Merrill asked. “We need to know what Solas is planning, and take action,” Max replied as Hawke looked at him. “But what can we do without the Inquisition?” he asked as Max shrugged his shoulder.

 

=================================x===================================

 

“O Wolf, what should we do now?” he asked asked as the wolf turned around. “Prepare for the whispering,” the wolf howled as they bowed and left. The wolf looked at the moon. The world would die, and he would stop at nothing to finish his mission, even if it hurts her. *No, not her,* the wolf thought as it shook its head and ran back.


	6. The Rise of Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a preview of what is about to happen.

Knock Knock. Max opened the door to his cabin again as he saw Lyna and Alistair outside. He motioned for them to enter as he woke Ellana up. 

“Hello Max,” Alistair said. “We have some grim news. It seems like there are stirrings of darkspawn, that can only be caused by an Archdemon,” Lyna said as Ellana suddenly jolted awake.  
“An Archdemon? How do you know?” Ellana asked. “We’re Grey Wardens. We’re like darkspawn detectors,” Alistair as Lyna snorted.  
“What do we do? Does anybody else know?” Max asked as Lyna shrugged. “The Ferelden Wardens were already notified, and they stand ready for any attacks. The Orlesian Wardens haven’t been in contact, and Weisshaupt is too stubborn to admit that there is a problem. So, we’re on our own again,” Lyna replied.  
“We must notify the Divine, maybe even the leaders of other nations,” Max said as Lyna shook her head.  
“Absolutely not. At least, not until we can confirm the threat.”  
“Okay, so where do we go?”

 

Max dove to the side as he heard the ogre ram into a tree. They were in Nevarra, investigating reports of darkspawn in the countryside. They went there, and encountered a horde filled with hurlocks, genlocks and ogres.  
Max turned around and jumped onto the ogre’s back and stabbed it with both his daggers. The ogre roared as it turned around and charged at Max’s companions. Max jumped off and slammed down on the ogre’s head with his metal arm, instantly killing it.  
“Everybody okay?” he asked as he tore his daggers out of the dead ogre and relaxed.  
“Why were there so many darkspawn in one place?” Ellana asked as she sheathed her sword and shield and the others followed.  
“Only one explanation. The Archdemon,” Lyna said as she shuddered. She had many memories of the beast, none of it good. The only good thing that the Fifth Blight did was give Lyna her friends, and Alistair.  
“So what do we tell the other nations?” Max asked.  
Suddenly Alistair howled and fell on the green grass, shuddering and making random sounds. His eyes were white, and his body was spasming.  
“Vhenan!” Lyna yelled as she ran towards him and slid down.  
Froth was dripping from his mouth as his eyes dilated and his body continued shuddering.  
Suddenly, the shuddering stopped. Silence pierced the landscape.  
“No, No, NO!” Lyna yelled as she checked his pulse and felt nothing. Suddenly, his chest thudded, his pulse returning, and he rising up.  
“Oh thank the Creators!” Lyna said as Alistair pulled her into a kiss. They melted into each other, becoming one. Max awkwardly looked away as he didn’t want to stare. After a few euphoric seconds, they broke off and hugged.  
“What are you doing here?” a woman with short cropped hair asked as she stepped out of the bush, holding a genlock emissary

“So you never answered my question. What are you doing here?” Cassandra asked as they ate dinner at camp. The genlock had hid when the ogre died, and it had used magic to almost kill Alistair, before Cassandra stepped in and killed.  
“Thank you Cassandra,” Lyna said for the 10th time.  
Cassandra shook her head with a smile as she devoured her dinner.  
“There were reports of increased darkspawn activity, so we came to investigate,” Max said in a matter-of-fact voice.  
“And we found an increased amount, for sure,” Ellana said as she stuffed her mouth with food.  
“Ah. So what are you going to tell the other nations? That this is evidence of an Archdemon? Or are you going to ignore this?”

=================================x===================================  
“Is it ready?” he asked.  
“Yes. It is ready to be unleashed.”  
“Where are the last two?”  
“One is in the Anderfels. One is in a underwater prison in the Amaranthine Sea.”  
“Good. Guide the horde to them. Wake them up.”  
“Yes O Wolf.”


	7. The Spark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The spark reignites a disbanded organization.

“Dear Commander Mahariel,  
I am to inform you that Weisshaupt fortress has fallen to the Darkspawn. The First Warden had been mercilessly slaughtered, as had the rest of the recruits in the Anderfels. There were reports of an Archdemon leading the ranks, proving that this is the start of the 6th Blight. We need to inform the other commanders and instruct them to inform the heads of their respective nations and build their defenses as soon as possible.  
Your brother-in-arms  
Jean-Marc Stroud”  
Lyna read as Alistair, Hawe, Merrill, Ellana, and Max listened solemnly.   
“Well shit. If there is truly an Archdemon, we can’t do anything. We can’t get recruits, or get aid from the other nations,” Alistair said as Lyna shook her head.  
“You remember the one feast the First Warden hosted? The one after the Blight and after I had been made Warden Commander?” Lyna asked as Alistair nodded. “Clarel was there, and she wrote me a way to make the darkspawn blood to give to the initiates, in case I ever needed it as a Commander” she finished as Max nodded.   
“Do we need to resurrect the Inquisition?” He asked as everybody looked at him.  
==============================x====================================  
“People of Orlais. People of Thedas. I want you to listen to me. In a land not far from here, the ultimate evil has risen. The darkspawn have once again risen. They terrorize the Anderfels, taking down the legendary Warden fortress of Weisshaupt with them. Soon, they will move onto the other lands. Soon, they will swallow the world. That is why I want to reinstate Maxwell Trevelyan as the Inquisitor in these troubled times. He will lead us with the Grey Wardens to salvation. So listen to me People of Thedas, place trust in the Inquisitor and the Wardens. They are our only hope against this coming evil. So please, guard your family. Guard your homes. Most importantly, guard your spirit, and your hope. Hope is the one thing that can win this war. Hope is the one thing needed to succeed.”  
=================================x=================================  
“Did you hear?”   
“Hear what?”  
“The Divine brought back the Inquisition.”  
“When the Inquisition’s there, that’s when you know all hell is about to break loose.”  
=================================x================================  
“Oh the memories,” Max said as the gates to Skyhold opened. There were signs of vegetation on the walls, and mould on the floor. Except for that, everything looked pristine. The white mountains were untouched. The grove outside was still blooming, producing apples. And finally, there was a sense of security, like when the Inquisition moved here. Here was where hope was at its lowest, and here was where it climbed up.  
“The original war council is travelling back, except Grace is taking over Leliana’s post,” Ellana said as they made their way into the Great Hall. As they opened the door to the Inquisitor’s quarters, Max saw Lyna and Alistair go the grove. He also saw Hawke and Merrill go to one of the guest, presumably to settle down and take a nap.  
“What’s our course of action?” Ellana asked as they made their way to their quarters.  
“Same as we did before. Stop the Blight and find Solas.” Max said as he flopped on the bed.  
He winced as his metal arm shook a bit and stung.   
“How does it feel?” Ellana asked, pointing to the arm.  
“It stings when I move it, but it’s better than the stump,” Max said as she laid down next to him.  
“Good night, Vhenan,” she said as she fell asleep in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who left Kudos and took time to read my work. Make sure to comment about what you think about my story.


	8. First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Inquisition gets a vague idea of what they are up against.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is torture.

“What’s our plan?” Max asked. He was in the War Room, with Grace, who was his sister, Cullen, and Josephine. Lyna and Hawke were standing next to him, looking at the map of Thedas as the rest were. Even though Divine Victoria didn’t crown the Hero and Champion Inquisitor, Max still considered them to have the level of authority he did. 

“The Wardens out of Weisshaupt are relatively stable. The Commanders are keeping order as they prepare for the second darkspawn incursion,” Lyna said as Hawke nodded in agreement. 

“My sister, the Warden Commander of the Free Marches, says the same as you. She’s trying to keep order as their Wardens build their arms up. The lands have a pretty solid defense,” He finished as Max nodded.

“That’s fine and all, but until we find Solas, none of this is going to matter,” Max replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Solas has to be behind all of this. Look, you don’t have to act on my intuition, examine all the evidence.”

“You’re right. You said that Solas wanted to destroy the world first before tearing the veil down, so making the transition easier. The Blight is the perfect way to completely annihilate the world.”

Max looked at the map and pondered. It was three months after the Blight had started. Three months after he had been made the Inquisitor. How was there any way to stop Solas? Corypheus had revealed himself, but Solas is way too smart to do that. How was Max, a regular man with a metal arm, going to stop a literal god from fulfilling his wishes? He was pondering this when he suddenly realized. 

“We first sighted darkspawn in Nevarra, right? So let’s go there and figure out if there’s a Deep Roads entrance there,” Max said as everybody else nodded.

“Grace, I need you to send your agents and investigate Solas’s agents. He definitely has some in the Inquisition, and in every other major organization. Root them out and deal with them as you wish. Josephine, talk with all the nations, and make sure that the treaties we signed are still in place and ready to be utilized. Cullen, I want you to send some of our troops to aid the Grey Wardens,” Max said as each advisor nodded and went to their respective offices. 

“We ready?” Hawke asked as Max smiled and nodded.

  
  
  


“Hawke!” Max yelled as he pushed the Champion to the ground. Just a second later, a genlock fired a blast that would’ve surely killed him. 

“Thanks,” Hawke said as he jumped back up.

It was Max, Hawke, Lyna and Alistair. They had just reached as a band of darkspawn attacked them. Max looked up as Lyna roared and stabbed a hurlock multiple times. Alistair was slicing away at genlocks as an arrow flew past him.

“Hey!” Max yelled as he saw an elven archer behind the bushes. The archer suddenly ran as Max closed the distance between them. Max took his throwing knives out and threw one as the knife found its mark. The archer tripped, his foot gushing blood out as a result of the knives. Max ran up to the archer and picked him up as the archer struggled. Max elbowed him with his metal arm as the archer was knocked out cold, and flopped in his hand.

  
  


“Wake up, you fucker!” Hawke yelled as the archer jolted awake.

He looked around in panic. He was in a castle dungeon, with water dripping slowly behind him. The walls were dark and grimy, with mold growing in excess, and the captors standing in front of him. 

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” Hawke said as the archer chuckled.

*Fuck, I just quoted a play,* Hawke thought as he drove a knife through the handle of the chair.

“Talk, or each one of your fingers is gone,” he said as he made a cut on the archer’s thumb.

“Fuck you,  _ shemlen _ ,” the archer said as Hawke sighed. He took the archer’s hand and drove the knife through his ring finger. He screamed as Hawke slowly drew the knife out with blood gushing out.

“All right, All right, I’ll talk!” the archer yelled as Hawke quickly pulled the knife out.

“My name is Thereon. I am part of a clan that joined the Wolf. Together, the elves will drive the  _ shemlen _ out of our lands, and Arlathan will rise again. The Wolf will make the elves the dominant race again, and he will make sure you round ears will suffer for all your sins!” Thereon said and spit on Hawke’s face.

“Who’s the Wolf? Where is he now?” Hawke yelled as the archer’s eyes rose in fear.

“He is in the land of the old ones. The ones who came before us. He is in a place where he sees all and knows all. You will never stop. Not you, not the traitors who are with you. Not the  _ shemlen  _ Inquisition,” Thereon said, with malice dripping from his voice and blood gushing out of his now severed ring finger.

“Take him away,” Hawke said as he left the dungeon.

 

“He works for Solas?” Max asked. Everybody important were in the War Room. Grace, Cullen, Josephine, Alistair, Lyna, Hawke, Merrill, and Ellana joined him as he sifted through momentous information.

“He referred to his master as the Wolf, and based on Solas’s alter ego, yes,” Hawke replied.

“He also said that Solas’s headquarters are in ‘the old lands’, and that he knows and sees everything.”

“Arlathan spanned the entirety of Thedas. There is no way to know precisely where he is from this,” Ellana interrupted as Merrill nodded.

“His seeing everything indicates that he has spies in almost every organization, something we already know,” Max said as everybody nodded.

“So what now? What do we do with this information?” Grace asked.

“We need to gain more evidence that Solas was the one who unleashed the Blight. We all have that gut feeling, but we need concrete evidence. We also need to know an approximate location of Solas’s base,” Max said as he looked at the map of Thedas on the war table.

“We have some reports of Solas’s agents in almost every nation’s government. We don’t know how many, or who they are, but enough evidence has been gathered to notify the nations.” Grace said.

“The talks have gone well. Many will honor the treaties we signed with them. They will also send some of their army to aid us.” Josephine added.

“Our troops are currently fighting the darkspawn in Tevinter. The magisters are surprisingly cooperative, with them sending troops to fight with ours,” Cullen finished.

“All right, here’s what we need to do. Grace, send those reports to the respective organizations and let them deal with the spies as they wish. If any are in the Inquisition, interrogate them for information. Josephine, use those treaties and get resources for our benefit. Cullen, make contact with the dwarves. See how they’re faring.” Max said as the advisors nodded and everybody left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,  
> Thanks for reading my work. I know my writing is horrible, and that is why I want your comments with feedback. Also, sorry for the delay.
> 
> FanFictionNerd456


	9. Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things descend even more.

“Inquisitor,” Cullen called out as Max was walking out of the castle. 

“Yes?”

“I want to talk to you about life. How are things?”

Max chuckled. “Considering the Blight is ravaging the world, and Solas is after our throats, yeah things are pretty well.”

“How are things with Ellana? If I remember correctly, you were completely infatuated with her, and forgot how to talk whenever you were 100 feet away from her.”

“Oh things are really good. If you didn’t know, we had built a wooden cabin in the Free Marches, and lived together for a year before shit went down. How about you? Still with my sister?”

“She is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. She and I, we’ve just connected. I proposed to her, we married, and we lived a pretty happy life in South Reach before this happened.”

“The Blight does that to people. Oh you’ve got a wife, and are living in complete peace. Boom, the archdemon is here to fuck shit up!”

Max and Cullen started laughing hard as everybody else looked at them weird.

“Well good talk Cullen, but make sure you don’t do anything to my sister,”

“Noted, Inquisitor,” Cullen replied, as Max left.

 

===================================x=================================

 

“Commander,

 

The Dwarves are locked in a bloody civil war. It’s Kal Sharok against Orzammar, and it looks like Orzammar has got darkspawn fighting with them. Kal Sharok has got the metal arms that the Inquisitor has. Either way, chaos is the only regular down in the Deep Roads. The dwarves will not honor their treaty with us until their civil war is over and one side wins. Advise on what to do,

      Knight Captain Rylen”

================================x==================================

“Well, shit,” Max said as the War Room was silent. He had just read the letter from Rylen and sighed. “Well, we need the dwarves’ help, along with the other nations’ help.”

“Only thing to do is to go down and pick who wins the war,” Lyna said as she looked at the map. “One good thing about the Blight is that the Deep Roads are completely clear of darkspawn. Makes it easy to travel.”

“Agreed,” Hawke said as he pointed to Kal-Sharok on the map. “One party can go to Orzammar. One can go to Kal-Sharok. Both find out what’s going on, and can figure out which side to support.” 

Max nodded in agreement as they dispersed to their rooms to prepare for the expedition.

===============================x===================================

_ Four months later, _

 

“Well shit. Orlais declared war on Ferelden, Tevinter is actively fighting the Qunari, and the darkspawn are still out and about.”

“Yeah. I heard that they just went into Rivain.”

“Sure hope the Inquisition can actually do something.”

“Me too.”

==============================x====================================

“Max. Max. MAX!” Ellana yelled.

Max was shuddering and twisted.

Ellana shook him some more as he suddenly woke up. They were in the Inquisitor’s quarters, Ellana planning to spend some time with the love of her life. They lied down and slept when Max suddenly started to dream.

He suddenly woke up with sweat flowing freely down his head.

“What happened?” Ellana asked as she wiped the sweat away and hugged him.

“I was dreaming. About us. I was dreaming that- that-,” Max replied with tears flowing down his face.

“I was dreaming that I saved the world, with no more problems, but you died. You died in the final battle, killing Solas and saving the world. But I couldn’t bear living without you. Life wasn’t worth the battles without you. So I almost did. I almost ended it.”

“Shh, Shh,” Ellana said as she caressed his head. They both lied back down on the bed.   
“I love you. I love you so much. Please don’t ever forget that.”

“I won’t. I won’t ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. That took a while to write. Anyways, I might've forgot to say that the Hero and the Champion were the Inquisitor's companions during DA:I. Also, I chose to write the way I did to show chaos, with the scene jumping from one to the other. So, Enjoy!


	10. The Abandoned Thaig

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to an abandoned land

“Why did I volunteer to do this?” Hawke asked as he, Merrill, Varric, and Bethany made their way into a deep roads entrance next to Kal-Sharok. The walls were tinted brown, as a result of the lava and the rock. The roads were warm, unlike the harsh white landscape in the surface. Hawke stepped carefully as he looked around. These walls were not like the thaig Hawke entered when he went on the expedition. It had massive drawings of figures, spanning entire walls and floors. 

“Because we are good people brother, and we care,” Bethany replied as she followed Hawke to a gigantic metal door incapable of being destroyed by anything. Hawke knocked on the door three times and whistled a tune as the door opened inwards and revealed a gigantic landscape on the other side.

“You Hawke?” a dwarf called out as he stepped out into the roads. He looked unnaturally pale, with black veins running through his face and hands. 

“Yes. And these are my companions. May we enter?”

The dwarf gestured them to enter as Hawke and the others stepped through the metal door. Inside was a world colored with brown, with quarters littering the landscape. There were big buildings on the top, where the Assembly gathered. 

“So this is Kal-Sharok?” Bethany asked as they strolled around the area, looking at how majestic the landscape looked.

“Yes.” The dwarf nodded as they made their way up to the Assembly building. It was a big castle-like structure, with a lava moat going around it.

A dwarf with a crown walked out with a smile on his face. He spoke in a dialect that even Varric didn’t know, and hugged the dwarf.

“The Paragon-Elect cordially welcomes you to Kal-Sharok, and wishes for you to make yourselves at home,” the first dwarf said as Hawke and his party went into the Assembly building.

They made their way up a flight of stairs and came into the Paragon-Elect’s quarters. 

“If I may ask without any offense, what is this conflict between Kal-Sharok and Orzammar?” Hawke asked.

The dwarf translated to the Paragon-Elect as he replied and the dwarf translated again.

“You have to understand. Kal-Sharok was once the glorious capital of the Dwarven Empire, until a king moved it to Orzammar. We both developed the same way, until the First Blight, as you surfacers call it. The entire empire perished, with only 4 thaigs remaining. The king from Orzammar ordered us to seal our entrances to the Roads, hence the big metal door. After that, 2 of the thaigs fell, with only us and Orzammar remaining. Since Orzammar had their connection to the surface, they were fine, but we were not. So we established our own connections and dug our own tunnels to the surface. Established trade with a few bordering cities in Orlais. We kept everything quiet though. Until we got discovered. Now Orzammar wants to make us submit to their rule, and accept their authority,” 

Hawke nodded as he stood up. “Is there anywhere we can sleep, at least until we leave?”

The Paragon-Elect nodded and showed them to three rooms, with a bed and a desk in each of them. 

“Merrill and I can share, the rest of you can go and catch some rest,” Hawke said as he and Merrill went into one of the rooms and closed.

  
  


“Hawke,” Merrill said as she and Hawke were lying on their bed.

“Yes?”

“How did you survive? In the Fade?” she asked, leaning on the brink of tears.

“I really don’t know, but as far as I can tell, time in the Fade doesn’t move as fast as time in the regular world. It was only 2 or 3 hours after I distracted the monster that I came upon the Fade spirit and established contact with the real world.”

“Well thank you. For coming back.”

Hawke cupped his hands on Merrill’s face. “Merrill, you don’t need to. I would’ve come back anyways,” he said as he kissed the love of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed post. If my story doesn't line up with lore, consider this an alternate universe.


	11. The Wars on the Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discussion. Some decisions are made that will affect the world.

“What are we doing now?” Ellana asked as she and Max strolled through the streets of Val Royeaux. The bright and flashy landscape contrasted with the stark but effective armor worn by the Inquisitor and his love. Max was wearing his grey colored heavy armor, with steel greaves and gauntlets. His daggers were hung on the back, ready to be used if needed. Ellana was wearing a Dalish Keeper armor, with simple sandals and the Sulevin blade hanging on her back. They marched up to the Grand Cathedral, with Templars guarding its entrance and looking around menacingly.

“Halt. State your business.” A templar yelled as Max and Ellana stopped.

“We are here to meet Divine Victoria. I am Inquisitor Trevelyan, and this is Ellana Lavellan, one of my inner circle,” Max said as he pulled a letter with the Divine’s seal.

The templar looked at Ellana with an icy glare as he opened the gates and let the two in.

 

“Hello Max! Hello Ellana! It’s good to see you!” Leliana said as she sat down on her chair at the courtyard in the Cathedral.

“Your Holiness, we have come to discuss the condition of Thedas at this time,” Ellana said as Leliana sighed.

“Please. Call me Leliana. And the situation is dire. It is very dire indeed.”

“What is happening?”

“A lot of things. After the Circle disbanded, I created the College of Magi. To give the mages the freedom that they craved and that they deserved. But there are people who discredit that idea. Madame Vivienne has organized them into a rebellion against the college. Meanwhile, Tevinter has renewed their war with the Qunari, with chaos reigning up North. You already know about the Blight, but you may not know that the Archdemon has taken over Weisshaupt, with the darkspawn manning the fortress and driving away any attempts to retake the fortress. Many people think that Rivain was taken by the darkspawn, but that is not the case. The darkspawn are staying in the Anderfels, which is really strange. The dwarves are still fighting, with no signs of stopping. Orlais has also declared war on Ferelden, with them starting to take over cities on the border.Tell me, how is the Inquisition going to fix the world?”

“I’ve sent Hawke and a few other people to investigate the dwarven war. As for the Blight, the situation seems under control so far. The Wardens are making sure no other lands are being affected by the darkspawn. And I’m working on how to fix the other two problems,” Max said as they got up.

“Well, that’s good and all, but make sure to also focus on Solas. You and I both know that he’s the perpetrator of all these conflicts.”

“We will,” Max said as he and Ellana took their leave.

  


“What are we going to do Max?” Ellana asked as they entered Skyhold.

“I don’t know. I truthfully don’t. Maker, this world has descended into chaos,” Max replied as he and Ellana climbed up the stairs to his quarters and stood at the balcony. He always admired, even venerated nature. For him, the mountains and the flowing rivers were always infinitely more beautiful than even the tallest towers or the flashiest necklace. In his eyes, Ellana was like that. A force of nature. She was nice to everybody, but when you piss her off, she’ll absolutely obliterate you.

“What are you staring at?” Ellana said with a playful grin as Max shook his head.

“Just admiring what I love the most,”

“Which is?”

“The mountains,” Max replied as Ellana playfully punched him.

“No but truthfully, without you, I’d be broken pieces of myself. With all the shit that’s going on right now, you are the only reason why my mind is not jelly and I’m not confined to a chair for the rest of my life.”

“Good to hear that,” Ellana said as she turned away.

“I need your help. To help me plan for ending the wars.”

“All right. What do you need?”

Max motioned for her to sit on the bed as he joined her.

“I don’t know what to do. There are so many decisions to be made. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong. I need your help in deciding which country to endorse and which country to let go.”

“Ok. Tell me your thoughts, and I’ll give my opinion on them.”

“Okay here we go.

So first there’s the war between Orlais and Ferelden. My gut is telling me to put my money behind. A people under an unpopular ruler is the forerunner to another rebellion and more bloodshed. I support their independence, and perhaps bloodshed can be avoided.

There’s also the war with Tevinter and the Qunari. I’m thinking the Qunari, as long as they have a stable society and do not conquer any more of Thedas. We have enough to convince nations to hand the Qunari the Northern Islands. Or perhaps the Sunless Lands. I don’t know, but that’s my basic theory. Finally, there’s the Circle. We both know that I’m going with the college. I have family and friends who were oppressed in the Circle, and while magic does need control, mages do not need to be oppressed.”

Ellana nodded as she took in all the information. “I agree with you on both of those. My only problem is the Blight. The Anderfels are being ravaged by the darkspawn, yet they do not venture out. My question is, why? Darkspawn have always been the conquering type, and they have the numbers to do it. So why aren’t they doing it. Why are they taking their time?”

“I don’t know. I have some theories, but they’re too outlandish to be true. At least I hope so. But thank you, Vhenan. For helping me make my mind up and potentially save Thedas.”

“It’s what I do,” Ellana replied with a wink as she walked  out of his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's reading. I hope you enjoy and my writing's not too horrible.
> 
>  
> 
> Cheers,  
> FanFictionNerd456


	12. The Dwarven Predicament

“Here’s the problem,” Hawke started. “With dwarven politics.”

Hawke, Merrill, Bethany, and Varric had come back to Skyhold a few days ago. Their mission had been successful, and they had gained vital information about Kal-Sharok and its role in the dwarven civil war. 

“Fucking everybody hates each other. There is no sense of unity between people. All they care about is caste, caste, and fucking caste. I’ve seen dusters have better ideas than the stuck-up nobles,” Hawke ranted as the War Council listened.

“So what did you find? What do you think we should do?” Max asked as Hawke calmed down.

“First off, pressure the dwarves to work with you and put their differences aside. Then, after that, let dwarves have autonomy. Kal-Sharok can have its own government that’s sovereign and Orzammar can be sovereign. They can be part of a trade coalition, per se, but they’ll still have autonomy,” Hawke replied as some nodded and some shook their heads.

“If we give Kal-Sharok autonomy, Orzammar is going to invade Kal-Sharok and this mess will start over again. My choice, make Kal-Sharok submit to Orzammar,” Cullen replied as Grace frowned. 

“Cullen, it’s not that simple. Orzammar abandoned Kal-Sharok at its weakest state, and demands it to join back after it became stronger. I agree with Hawke, and believe we should give autonomy to Kal-Sharok.”

“Is it not an option to make Orzammar submit to Kal-Sharok? Just like the old days?” Merrill asked as Josephine and Varric both shook their heads violently.

“Orzammar is too stuck-up and proud to submit to Kal-Sharok. There’s no way that’s happening without immense bloodshed, which is not what we want,” Varric said as Josephine nodded.

“I know what I’ll do. Orzammar trades with Ferelden, and Kal-Sharok trades with Orlais. Since Celene owes me a huge debt, I can write to her to cut off trade until Kal-Sharok fights alongside Orzammar in this war. Lyna, you do the same with Anora to cut trade off with Orzammar. That’s the one way we can get the two thaigs to work together,” Max finished as Lyna nodded and everybody left to their offices.

 

Knock. Knock.

“Come in,” Max said as he saw Hawke enter his quarters. Hawke sat on a couch, facing Max’s desk.

“I heard you were proposing to Ellana. I’ve come to offer you some brotherly advice on marriage and women,” he said as Max snorted.

“Make sure you mean what you say. When you take those vows, she is your life. Nobody else should matter as much as that woman. If you don’t feel about her that way, then she’s not the one for you. You should also treat her with respect. She is not your plaything, something that can be used then thrown away. When you are declared husband and wife, you will be companions until death does one of you. Finally, buy her a ring that suits her. What kind of a ring will suit Ellana the most? Certainly not a bright and flashy ring from Orlais. Think about all those things, and then ask her to marry you. If you do everything right, and you genuinely feel love for her and want to spend the rest of your life with her, there will be no problem,” Hawke said as Max looked at him with new reverence.

“I don’t understand. Where have you and Lyna been to gain this much wisdom and intelligence? I feel like an idiot talking to you and her. You guys say all the smart things and can talk to your significant others, while I can’t string two letters together in front of Ellana,” Max remarked as Hawke bellowed.

“Kid, you gain wisdom as you age. The experiences you gain will shape who you are and what your ideals are. You’re what, 30? That’s nothing compared to how old Lyna and I are. We’ve gone through so much shit, we just get used to it. We learn from our experiences, and we use that learning to benefit us. That’s all you need to do,” Hawke said as he left the quarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me for forgetting to post a chapter. A lot of things have been going on, and I've not been as focused as I should've been.


	13. That Special Someone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max reveals something about his special someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the guest who left Kudos. Glad that I could give you something good to read.

Lyna walked up to Max, who was in deep thought. “Max, Max, Max!” she yelled as Max suddenly snapped into attention. “Yeah?” he asked sheepishly. “What were you thinking about?’ Lyna asked as Max suddenly started blushing. Lyna smirked. “What were you thinking about?”

“Something private you don’t need to know about?” Max said nervously as Lyna’s eyebrows went up.

“Tell me, what is it? I won’t tell anyone. Well I will tell Alistair. And Hawke. And Merrill. And Ellana. But nobody else. What is it?”

“That’s the thing. I don’t want you to tell Ellana. Oh shit,” Max said as he realized what he let slip. 

“OOH, it involves Ellana. Tell me. What is it?”

“All right. I’ll tell you. But promise not to tell anybody else.”

“Go on.”

Max sighed. “I was thinking of a way. To propose to Ellana. To ask her to marry me.” 

Lyna gasped. “OOH, YOU’RE GOING TO PROPOSE TO ELLANA?”

Max shushed her as she calmed down. “Yes, I’m planning on doing that. If you don’t yell that out to Thedas, I can actually pull it off without her knowing.”

“What kind of ring are you going to buy her? Where are you going to marry? How are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know. That’s what I was thinking about. What kind of ring to buy her. Where to propose to her. If you could help, that’d be really nice.”

“Oh,” Lyna blushed. She still remembered when Alistair proposed to her in the grove, shaking nervously and stuttering the whole way through. But the heart and the thought had been there, and Lyna readily accepted. She still wore her ring, with tree branches etched onto it and a wood finish. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

“All right. Let’s go and talk about strategies for wooing. From yours only,” Lyna said as she walked up to Max’s quarters after Max.

 

“Max, tell me. Why do you like Ellana? What makes her the one? Because you’ve only got one shot at this.” Lyna asked as Max raised his eyebrows.

“There are a lot of reasons. She’s really nice, she looks very beautiful. She also helped me not lose my mind. I don’t know, but whenever she’s there, she just makes me feel better. She makes me feel worth. Feel loved.”

“Good start. Now, you’ve got your reasons. Figure out where and when you’re going to propose. Then find a ring. Alistair got me a wooden ring with tree branches etched in and a wood finished. I loved it, and we married. And one more thing. Don’t try to practice for what you’re going to say. You can ask Alistair if it’s true, but there will almost always be something that goes wrong.” She finished as Max nodded. 

“Thanks Lyna. I know exactly when I’m going to ask her and where I’m going to ask her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also created a story called Thedas in Chaos (The prequel to this). Go check it out.


	14. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyna has a daring plan. Max prepares for the big day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to evensoullivesforever for leaving Kudos.

“What are we here for?” Max asked as he looked around in the war room. Everybody was there. Lyna, Hawke, Bethany, Alistair, Varric, Grace, Cullen, and Josephine.

“I called this because I have a plan. To push the darkspawn out of Weisshaupt,” Lyna said as Max choked.

“Are you serious?” Alistair asked incredulously as Bethany looked at Ellana weirdly.

“The darkspawn are going to break, sooner or later. When they break out, there will be tens, thousands more than before. We need to take back Weisshaupt. The home of the Wardens. From there, we will eradicate the Blight.”

“Good plan, but how the fuck are we breaking into Weisshaupt? The fortress was impenetrable even before the darkspawn took over. Even though darkspawn are a little ‘uncivilised’, they are still teeming with numbers. How are we going to get through all of them?”

“Flame.”

“What?” Max asked.

“In my travels and my research, there is one and only one thing that repels the darkspawn. It’s a special kind of fire, something that the Dalish had developed even before Tevinter’s time. Some lore says that the darkspawn were there even before the magisters. The elves had used this kind of fire to repel the darkspawn,” Lyna finished as Varric nodded.

“Now that I realize it, the dwarves also used the lava found in the Deep Roads to kill a lot of darkspawn at once. That lava, for some reason, seeks the Darkspawn out and destroys them. Nothing more, and nothing less,” Varric said.

“All right, here’s what we do. We can use whatever fire Varric and Lyna are talking about. What we can do is somehow drop the fire from above. Drop massive amounts of it, and make sure that none of it pours out,” Max said as Hawke nodded.

“Good plan, but how the hell are we going to drop something from the air? Dragons?” he asked.

“Griffons. Magic to levitate the fire and drop it. There are a lot of possibilities..” Max replied.

“He’s right. The Griffons are only a few weeks from maturing. I’ve kept them in the Marches’ Warden headquarters..

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------x--------------------------------------------------------

“Where are you going?” Ellana asked as she went into Max’s quarters and saw him packing clothes.

“I’m just going and investigating something. It’s something from Cassandra. If I do this, she’ll be able to come back to the Inquisition,” Max replied as he showed her a letter from Cassandra.

“Well, be safe Vhenan. Make sure you don’t die,” Ellana said as she drew Max into a hug. 

“Ooh. I have an idea. How about you join me? I was any ways going to visit some of my friends from Ostwick. You can spend some time with Cassandra, and catch up with her. I know that you’re best friends, and you would surely want to talk to her,” Max said as Ellana smiled.

 

\-----------------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------

“Ellana!” Cassandra said as old friends embraced each other. They were at Cassandra’s cabin in the Nevarran countryside. 

“How are you, my friend?” Ellana asked as they broke the hug.

“Hey Cassandra,” Max said as he shook Cassandra’s hands. 

 

“The Promisers have a cell in Nevarra. They have been resisting my every attempt to reestablish Seeker presence in Nevarra. I want to get rid of them,” Cassandra said as Max grinned.

“Easy. Just tell me where, and I’ll take care of it.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Why do you think you’re going alone?” Ellana asked, obviously worried for his safety.

“Remember how I said I have some friends to visit? Well, I’ll do that after I’m done with the Seekers, while you and Cassandra can catch up, see the sights, and do all that stuff.”

 

“No way. We’re coming with you to the cell. Then, you can go visit your friends,” Ellana said as Cassandra nodded in agreement.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------------------

Max sighed as he raised a Seeker flag on the castle flagpost.

He had not expected them to hide in a castle in the middle of nowhere. There were a lot of promisers, all hostile and threatening. Fortunately, they had been no match for Cassandra and her Seeker abilities, Ellana and her greatsword, and Max and his metal arm.

“Thank you. For now, I can return to the Inquisition and help you,” Cassandra said as Max got excited.

“Now can I go visit my friends?” Max asked as Ellana smiled.

“Yes, now you can go visit your friends. But be back before bedtime,” she joked as Max laughed and hugged her.

“I’ll see you soon,” Max finished as he climbed his horse and rode away to Ostwick.

\-------------------------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------------------

“Eldrick!” Max cried.

“Max!” Eldrick shouted as the two old friends hugged in glee.

“How is life? That metal arm treating you well?” he asked as Max nodded.

“So, so. How about you? Where is your dad?”

“He’s gone out. To buy food. Anyways, what’s brought you here to Ostwick? Want me to call the others to the tavern to catch up?”

Max smiled. “We can do that, but I have a little problem. See, I have this lady friend…”

Eldrick nodded in understanding. “You want to propose to her, so you came to me for a ring. But one thing. Aren’t rings supposed to be metal?”

“For her, a wooden ring will suit her much more. I’ll show you what I mean. And one more thing. Can I make it? With my own hands?”

“Anything for you old friend. Sit down, eat some lunch, and we’ll get started.”

\----------------------------------------------------x------------------------------------------------------------

“You have to saw this part off,” Eldrick said as he gave Max a saw.

“Alright.”

“And sand the outer edges.”

“Ok.”

“Finally, apply the finish.”

Max painted it on.

“Perfect. Now, wait for a day, and we can put the metal on.”

“Thank you. For understanding. I knew I could count on you.”

“Anything for you, my friend. Now tell me something. What is this woman like? Describe her. Her personality. Why do you love her so much?”

Max sighed. “Her name is Ellana Lavellan. She’s from the Lavellan clan living near Ostwick. All I can say is that she’s the most breathtaking woman I’ve ever seen. Remember how my parents drove me out the city? Well, I kept getting bad memories, and she was the one to make them go away. I feel whole, loved whenever I’m with her.”

“You should, after what happened. Spend one last night here, while the finish is drying and the metal is sticking. In the morning, it will be done, and you can go back to your castle.”

“Thank you, Eldrick. For everything.”

“No problem. Just take care of the lady, and keep her close. If I’m right, she’s the one keeping you from turning into a vegetable.”

“You’re right there.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max, Alistair and Lyna discover the cure for darkness.

“Max, come here,” Alistair said as Max walked over to Lyna and him.

“We have a question for you. A question that you must answer truthfully, and clearly,” Lyna said as Max nodded for them to go on.

“What is the cure for the Blight?” Alistair asked as Max choked.

“I don’t know,” Max said as anger flashed into Alistair’s eyes.

“Max, we know that you know the cure. So what is it?” Lyna said calmly as Max shook his head vehemently.

“Son of a bitch!” Alistair yelled as he socked Max in the jaw, kneed him in the stomach and proceeded to beat him up.

“Alistair!” Lyna yelled as she pulled him away from Max, who was on the floor and wiping blood coming out of his mouth.

“Alright, follow me,” Max said as they walked up to his quarters.

 

“What’s all this?” Alistair asked as he looked at the papers Max handed to him. They were sitting on the couch in Max’s quarters.

“Those are notes I got from Valammar. Me, Varric, Cassandra, and Dorian went there to help Varric’s friend stop the Carta from trading red lyrium.”

“What does that have to do with the Blight?” Lyna asked as she put the notes down on the table.

“We figured out that red lyrium is actually corrupted by the Blight. And with my research from Soldier’s Peak, I figured out something else,” Max started as Alistair and Lyna looked at him in surprise.

“You went to Soldier’s Peak?” Lyna asked as Max nodded.

“Story for another day. Anyways, I figured out, with this dude named Avernus’s notes, that Lyrium has a certain capacity for foreign ailments. Like the taint.”

“What does this mean?” Alistair asked Max solemnly.

“This means that if we find red lyrium that was tainted recently, we can theoretically draw the Blight out of your blood,” Max finished as Alistair and Lyna looked at each other with hope. Hope that only came back after 10 years.

“What do we do?” Lyna asked, with hope gleaming in her eyes.

 

\---------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------------------

Max, Lyna, Alistair, and Varric entered Valammar as Alistair and Lyna looked up at the sky. Weird, considering Valammar was supposed to be a thaig and underground.

“Bianca!” Varric called out as a dwarven woman walked out and hugged Varric. 

“What can I do for you?” Bianca asked as Varric motioned at Alistair and Lyna.

“We just need to look at some red lyrium samples. Preferably ones that surfaced not too long ago,” Alistair asked as Bianca nodded.

“Follow me,” she said as the party walked through some caves and ended up at a cave with a giant red lyrium crystal.

Varric nodded his thanks as Bianca walked away. Alistair and Lyna walked over to a particularly large lyrium.

“Aah!” Alistair grunted as he held his head and leaned on Lyna for support.

“What is it?” Max asked as Alistair looked at him. 

“The Taint is almost full on this one,” Alistair said as Max pondered on the spot.

“I have an idea.”

\--------------------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------------------------

“Why is there Red Lyrium in Lothering?” Lyna asked as the group walked up to the now destroyed Chantry in Lothering. The landscape was black, corrupted by the Blight and rendered useless. 

“There must’ve been a lyrium deposit nobody knew about. When the Blight happened, the lyrium got infected, and turned into red lyrium,” Max remarked as Alistair walked up to another big crystal and leaned against it.

“This is the one,” he said as Max went up to it, and held up a pickaxe to break the crystal.

“Wait!” Lyna shouted as Max stopped mining.

“We’re going to invade Weisshaupt in a few weeks. If Alistair and I take this cure, then we leave the slaying of the Archdemon to chance,” she finished grimly as Max nodded in understanding. 

“You know, when dragons are infected with the Blight, they create cysts to contain the Taint. I know a formula that can do the same kind of thing, but to other stuff. Like human limbs, or in this case, red lyrium.”

\-----------------------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------------

“How slow is the spreading now?” Lyna asked as Max put the cyst away in a secret vault in his room, and wiped his hands in disgust.

“If the Blight is infecting this crystal at, let’s say, half a crystal per year, now it’s half a crystal for every five years,” he replied.

“Walk with me,” Lyna said as they both walked down the stairs into the Great Hall, and down the stairs outside.

“So how’s the marriage proposal going?” Lyna asked as Max grinned. Clearly someone was happy.

“I finished the ring, and have my place of proposal. Now, I’m just waiting for the right time,” he replied as Lyna looked at him.

“When are you going to?” Lyna asked as Max shrugged his shoulders and ran away.

“Not telling you!” he cried as he kept running.


	16. The Question

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of feels in this one! Also, an NSFW scene.

**1 Bloomingtide (a month after discovery of the cure)**

 

“Alright Quizzy, where you taking me?” Ellana asked playfully as Max guided her through the forest. It was two days before when Max suddenly asked Ellana to come with him to somewhere. Where, she didn’t know. She agreed, knowing that Max wouldn’t take them to the Deep Roads or anything like that. Or did he?

*Nope,* she thought as she smelled the wind blowing against their faces. “Wait a second,” she interrupted as Max took off the blindfold.

Her breath was snatched from her as she gazed at the beauty in front of her eyes. The taiga landscape was always the same, green with patches of pine trees dotting the landscape. But now, it felt like the nature had breathed in life. The flowers were blooming, coloring the landscape with sights unlike any other. The sun was finally out, with light bouncing off the lake, adding even more beauty to the scene. And in the middle of all this, was their cabin. Their hard work, combined with their love and care for each other, bore its fruit right here. There was no sight that she would enjoy more.

“Ma Vhenan, this is beautiful!” Ellana cried as she hugged Max with all the love, care and passion she ever had inside of her.

“Come inside. I’ll make breakfast, and we can do other stuff,” Max said with a sly grin as he entered the cabin.

  
  


Ellana leaned on Max as they gazed into the distance. The moon was out, with it and the torches making sure the cabin and the surrounding area would be illuminated. It was moments like this that she cherished the most. The ones where it was only him and her. Undying love and passion exchanged without words. Suddenly, Ellana looked up to see white streaks traveling across the night sky. Meteor showers, she thought.

*Whoo,* Max thought as he fingered the ring in his pocket. *This has to be perfect. She doesn’t deserve anything less,* Max thought as he sighed.

“Ellana,” Max said as Ellana turned around and looked at him.

Maker, he couldn’t get over how lucky of a man he was. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with chestnut hair rolling down her face, and the vallaslin spreading across her face. Her face, with her lips, that had uttered soft words to him that night, words that would calm him down and bring him back into the world. Words that would help Max rid of his inner demons, and find peace in the world. There was no woman in Thedas he loved more, no woman he would rather spend time with.

“I just wanted to say that you are the most perfect thing that has ever happened to me or my life,” Max started as he slowly brought the ring out. “Before you, I was a shell of a man, running away from his own demons. Without you, I am less than that, something nobody knows or ever wants to know. You are what I care about the most. You are the reason why I fight everyday. For your smile, I will move even the toughest mountains. For your laugh, I will part the seas. For your love and care, I will bring even the farthest stars to you. And for the honor of taking me as your husband, I will give you all that I was, all that I am, and all that I will ever be.”

Max sunk a knee to the ground as he held the ring out. “Will you marry me?”

Ellana stood still, mouth open in shock, eyes wide. Then, she kneeled down, brought Max’s hands to her chest, and stared into his eyes.

“Maxwell Trevelyan, my love, Ma Vhenan, there is nothing that could ever keep me from you. You are my soulmate. Yes I will marry you. Yes. YES!” Ellana said, yelling the last part to the forest and whatever spirits it held. 

Max laughed, tears freely flowing from his face, as he slid the ring onto her ring finger. Somehow, it had fit perfectly. 

Ellana took a minute to examine her ring. It was primarily wood, with a silver lining on the edge and a halla’s face engraved on the top. It was simply gorgeous. She could not do anymore justice.

She also noticed  _ MT _ engraved. Faintly, so faintly nobody but her could see it, but it was still there. 

“Something even better. Rub the halla three times and see what happens,” Max said as Ellana followed his instructions and stared intently at the ring. Suddenly, the halla face morphed into an actual halla, miniature but still there. It pranced around her hand, making halla noises and being a halla. 

Max looked up to see Ellana’s eyes. They flashed like they never had before. Happiness covered her face, and she was on the brink of tears. “What’s the MT for?” Ellana asked. “To show that I made it with my own hands. That I will never leave you, and that I will always be with you, no matter where I am,” Max said. “Told you I’ll move the mountains for your smile,” he whispered in her ear. Ellana rubbed the ring three times again, summoning the halla back. Then she looked at him, and pulled him in for a wild wild kiss.

The kiss was so wild, it resulted in Max and Ellana making out next to their bed. Max pulled for a breather, and kissed her again. This time, they stumbled onto the bed, Ellana falling with him. “Oh fuck it,” Ellana said as she took her shirt off. 

“Fuck it,” Max replied, trying not to laugh as he took his shirt off too.

“Shut up,” Ellana said playfully as she removed her pants and smalls, revealing her dripping mound. 

Max followed suit, taking off his smalls and revealing his pulsing member.

“I need you Max. Right now,” Ellana said as Max shook his head. 

“You see, a woman is like a goddess, and her body is like a temple. You need to do all the rituals in the correct order with satisfaction if you truly want to honor that goddess,” Max said as he descended on Ellana’s mound

“This is your idea of pillow talk?” Ellana asked jokingly as Max looked up.

“Is it working?” Max asked back.

“Mythal, ye-oooooohhhhhhhhhh,” Ellana groaned as Max proceeded to “eat her out”, as some of his vulgar friends would call it.

“Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it!’ She groaned again in pleasure as Max lifted his face up and smiled.

“Anything for my goddess.”

“I need you inside me. Right now. And I mean it,” Ellana said as Max laid down on the bed, and Ellana got on top of him.

She started to slowly gyrate her hips, hovering over his member but not quite sinking in.

“It’s like you said. A goddess needs to reward her worshippers,” she said as she slammed into his arousal. She started to ride him like it was her life. Because he was her life, and she was his.

“Say my name,” Max said as he held onto her.

“Maxwell Trevelyan,” she said as they increased the pace.

“Maxwell! Max! M-aaaahhhh,” Ellana groaned as they both came, Max spilling his seed into her.

“I love you. And I will always love you. Forever,” Max swore as he hugged Ellana and they both descended into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also have a tumblr. fanfictionnerd456.tumblr.com . Make sure to check it out!


	17. Weisshaupt P.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission for Weisshaupt comes to a head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay!

“What’s the status on Weisshaupt?” Max asked as he laid his hands on the War Table and looked. They colloquially referred to the mission as “Weisshaupt”.

“The Griffons have fully matured. They are ready to fly,” Bethany said.

“Merrill?”

“Ah yes,” Merrill stuttered. “I have a decent amount of the flame. I have a way to produce more, but it requires a lot of power.”

“Good. You won’t need to create anymore, because I’m assuming Varric got the dwarven lava?” Max said as he turned around and looked at Varric.

“Yep. I’ve got a lot of it. And I mean a whole lot,” he said as Max nodded. He remembered how he, Varric, Bethany, and Lyna had to enter a part of the Deep Roads and kill Maker knows how many darkspawn to reach an entire lake filled with that kind of lava. Its location had been given to them by the Paragon-Elect of Kal-Sharok.

“What about the dwarves Josephine?”

“Orzammar and Kal-Sharok grudgingly agreed to work with each other. The memory and fear of the Blight overtaking them was enough for them to set their differences aside. As for the mages, Fiona and Vivienne have agreed to work with each other. And for the humans, Lady Eleanor of Montsimmard is providing us with the troops along ours to storm the castle.”

“The spies have confirmed it. The fortress is teeming with darkspawn. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”

“The Inquisition soldiers are ready. All we need to do is to travel to the Anderfels and give them the order.”

“Here’s the plan. The Marcher and Fereldan Wardens are going to ride the griffons and dump the lava/fire on the fortress. Luckily, it doesn’t harm anybody else other than darkspawn, so the army’ll breach the gate and take out the darkspawn stragglers and broodmothers,” Max said as Alistair grimaced.

“I’d rather not let anybody else face the horrors we did in the Deep Roads,” Alistair said as Max shook his head.

“We won’t know how long it will take. By then, the broodmother might do her thing, and we will be surprised with a lot of unnecessary darkspawn,” Max replied as Alistair nodded.

“Anyways, Me, Alistair, Lyna, Bethany, Ellana, Hawke, Varric, Rainier, Cassandra, Merrill, Oghren, and Stroud are going to be breaching the inside of the fortress, hopefully slaying the archdemon in the process and making it out alive.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Cullen said as Grace walked up to Max and hugged him.

“Stay safe brother. Come back to us. Come back to your family.”

\------------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------------

**Warden Fortress in the Free Marches**

 

“This is it!” Markus said. It was him, Jowan, Rapier, Dalish, and Rock. They were all waiting in the room for Warden-Constable Howe.

“Join us, brothers and sisters, join us in the shadows where we stand. Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn. And should you perish, know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten, and that one day we will join you. These are words said at every Joining. Words to preclude the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate risks. From this point, you are Grey Wardens, regardless if you survive or not,” Nathaniel Howe said as he stepped into the room and picked up a chalice with the darkspawn blood.

“Markus, you are called to submit to the Taint,” Nathaniel said as he handed him the chalice. “From this moment forth, you are a Grey Warden.” He took a swig out of the chalice and joked. “Hey, this isn’t as bad as the ale at- aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!” he groaned, falling over and writhing on the floor. He groaned, twisted and turned and finally stopped. Nathaniel checked his pulse.

“He is alive.” He called out as she proceeded to join the next four. Surprisingly, they had all survived.

 

“Wardens, you are called to fight the Blight by Thedas. By the people. You are called to take back our fortress. Rid Weisshaupt of Darkspawn, and we will prosper.” Nathaniel said formally. They were outside, standing next to the Griffons. Markus, Jowan, Rapier, Dalish, and Rock each had their own Griffons. There were also 8 others Wardens, including the Constable, who would fly with them.

“Here’s the plan. The Inquisitor graciously gave us the fire and the lava. What we’re doing is mounting those things on a bucket, flying towards Weisshaupt, and dumping it into the fortress.”

“We have that many buckets?” Rock asked.

Nathaniel nodded.

“Let’s go!” Markus yelled as everybody else cheered.

The Griffons flapped their mighty wings and soared into the air. Dalish tried to hold on, but slipped and barely stayed up.

Everybody laughed as Dalish climbed back on the Griffon. He offered a meager smile as the Griffons flew and shot across the sky like a bullet.

 

A few hours of flying later, they reached Weisshaupt. Everyone grimaced as they sensed the abnormally strong presence of the Taint.

“In War, Victory,” Rapier started.

“In Peace, Vigilance,” Jowan continued.

“In Death, Sacrifice. DROP!” Nathaniel shouted as the Griffons let go of the “buckets” and they fell to the fortress.

Even from there, they could see the massive explosion it created. Thankfully, it didn’t destroy any part of the fortress, but they could see the fire spreading through the walls, hunting for the Darkspawn and killing them. They could see the lava flowing through the corridors, burning anything related to the tent.

“Rock, light the flare,” Nathaniel ordered as Rock lit a signal flare.

\-----------------------------------------------------x--------------------------------------------------------------

“Inquisitor, the flare has been lit!” Cullen roared as Max stepped out of the tent and peered to the sky.

He could see the griffons, faint as a twinkling star, dive down and release the bucket. The bucket had been Dagna’s idea. She made a canister-like device that would explode on impact and spread the flame/lava.

“Is everybody ready?” Max asked. Ellana, Cassandra, and Rainier strapped on their greatswords and swords and shields. Hawke, Merrill, Varric, and Bethany readied their weapons, strapping their armor on and smiling at each other. Lyna, Alistair, Oghren, and Stroud were standing. Lyna and Alistair gave each other doe-eyed looks, with Oghren trying not to laugh and Stroud standing still.

Max turned to the army.

“Inquisition. For the Anderfels. For the Inquisition. FOR THEDAS!” Max yelled as the army yelled back.

“Come on!” Max yelled as they breached the gates to Weisshaupt and saw a truly terrifying sight. Half the darkspawn were gone, but half was still there, waiting for them and snarling when they entered. The Lava had somehow drained off, though Max had no idea how. Perhaps a sewer system? Or it just evaporated?

*Shit!* Max thought. *The fire mustn't have killed them all*.

Max, Lyna, and Hawke all roared a battle cry at the same time, rattling the darkspawn. The darkspawn roared back and charged.

The plan was for them to divide into parties of four. Lyna, Alistair, Oghren, and Stroud would be one party. Hawke, Merrill, Bethany, and Varric would be another. And Max, Ellana, Thom, and Cassandra would be the final party. Max instantly dove in, the years spent on the streets taking over and helping him. He dodged, cut and sliced darkspawn so quickly some soldiers mistook him for a Warden.

“Yeah, Ser Warden!” a soldier yelled as Max sprinted across the courtyard and spotted Ellana. She was like a force of nature, whirling her greatsword and beheading a shit ton of darkspawn in the process. Suddenly Max spotted an Emissary chanting words and pointing at Ellana.

\-----------------------------------------------x--------------------------------------------------------------------

**Ellana**

 

“Ellana!” she heard as she stopped spinning and looked. It was Max, running at her to help. She smiled and continued to hack away at the darkspawn as Max jumped up and did the move known as “twin fangs” on the darkspawn. He ended up on her back, slashing away behind the rear.

Once the darkspawn had been killed, they stopped and looked at each other.

“What were you thinking, going off on your own?”

“Just because I’m your betrothed doesn’t mean I have to be cuddled.”

“Perish the thought. I was just saying that you could’ve asked me to join so I won’t miss the action,” Max said as he smiled.

“Come on, Vhenan. Time to go save the world.”  
Max nodded as they bounded towards the main castle.

\----------------------------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------------

**Hawke**

 

Hawke threw a knife at the darkspawn that was about to hit Merrill. There was no way he would let anything as filthy as that touch his wife.

“Vhenan, behind you!” Merrill yelled as she brought a stone-fist on the genlock that was sneaking behind him.

“Thanks!” he yelled as he charged at an ogre, and sliced away at it. In all of his experiences, the ogre, in his opinion, was the easiest but most tedious to kill. You had to constantly dodge it, but it also had a few weak spots that always brought it down. How did he know? The fight with the Arishok had taught him a lot of things, least of which the weak spots on Qunari. Only problem was, this “Qunari” was a hair taller than the last one he faced. And the Arishok was gigantic.

Hawke proceeded to hit all the weak spots, and the gigantic beast fell. *Damn, I should report this to..* He started thinking when he realized that he was in Weisshaupt, fighting the darkspawn that killed so many of the Grey Wardens.

“Come on brother, darkspawn’s a waiting! Time’s a ticking! We’ve got places to be!” Bethany yelled as Hawke waved her off.

“Yeah Yeah”

\---------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------------

**Alistair**

 

He smited the emissaries. He slashed and hacked away at the hurlocks and genlocks. And he kept watch for the shrieks. But they kept coming. And coming. And coming. *How many broodmothers would be in the dungeons alone for this many darkspawn?* Alistair thought as he shuddered. He remembered the discussion he and Lyna had before she left to find the cure right after the incident with the architect.

 

_“Alistair,” Lyna called as he walked over and sat next to her._

_“I need you to promise me something. And don’t take this lightly. It’s a heavy promise. Think about it, and think carefully.”_

_“Alright,” Alistair replied. “Go on.”_

_“I want you to kill me, if anything happens with the darkspawn,” Lyna said as fear gripped Alistair._

_“What do you mean?” Alistair deflected as he tried to think of anything else. Literally anything else._

_“You know what I mean!” she yelled. “With the Mother, and everything that’s happened so far, if I get caught, I don’t want to be one of them. Or even birth them.”_

_She turned around and looked at him. “I want you to promise me. That you will kill me as soon as possible if the darkspawn take me.”_

_Alistair stared. “Lyna -”_

_“DON’T YOU LYNA ME!” she yelled as Alistair went in to hug her. “You know how serious this is! I don’t want to become one of them. A broodmother.” She finished with tears brimming on her eyes._

_“You won’t-”_

_“Don’t assume that!” She yelled, slapping away his hand. “Don’t ever assume that! We’re Wardens.”_

_Alistair sighed deeply. “Alright. I promise, I give you my word, to slay you honorably if you ever turn,” he promised._

 

And Alistair wondered if he had to make good on that promise. He certainly didn’t want to, but if it came down to that, he’d have to.

“Are you okay?” Lyna asked as he suddenly shook his head and nodded.

\------------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------------

**Max**

 

“Here we are,” Max said as Hawke’s party and Lyna’s party approached him. They were standing in front of the gates to the castle interior.

“What do you think we’ll find in there?” Hawke asked.

“Most probably, the archdemon.” Lyna replied.

“How are we going to kill it?”

“Same way we kill everything else. Improvise.” Max said with an impish grin.

“And, we’ve got experience, so it’s even better.” Hawke added.

“Wait up. I have to call someone,” Lyna said as she pulled out a locket and stroked it three times.

There was a crack and suddenly a figure appeared. It looked like Corypheus, but without all of the red lyrium.

“Who summons me?” it said as it looked around.

“Hey Architect, remember me?” Lyna said, as the Architect looked at her.

“Ah. Good to see you too, Warden.”

“Architect? Wait, that means that-”

“Yes. That means I am one of the magisters that brought the darkspawn to the world. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Now’s not the time to argue. You will help us, correct?” Max asked as he looked at the magister accusingly.

“Correct. This is the least I could do to right my wrongs.”

Max nodded.

The Architect broke down the door and heard a roar. There were four statues standing guard. They bowed when the Architect approached them.

“Let us welcome our brother, and retake this land that is rightfully.”

“POWER!” The Architect said as the doors opened.

“How’d you know the password?” Max asked.

“I guessed.”

They went in and saw a statue of a slumbering dragon. And in front of that were 4 towering figures, about the same height as the Architect.

“I see you’ve brought the meddling human that killed one of ours. Good. Time to sacrifice him.”

“That is not the correct course. Abandon this path. We can all go back to being human. To being all ourselves.”

“Ah. I’m afraid I have to disagree. There is too much power at stake.”

“You leave me no choice,” the Architect said as his hands lit with energy.

“What’s he doing?” Max asked Lyna as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Finish what I have started. Rid the world of this evil. Hero. Champion. Herald.” The Architect said as an explosion rocked the room.


	18. Weisshaupt Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of the Weisshaupt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers. This was a tough decision to make. Whether to post this work or not. That's when my dumbass realized that I had created a Dragon Age Keep state to catch you up with Inquisition, Origins, and 2. (Here's the link: https://dragonagekeep.com/en_US/iss/?worldState=050000010133000000111). If you have any questions related to the lore in this fic, comment down below. If you have any comments, comment down below. If you want me to keep posting, comment down below, that way I know I'm not screwing up.

**Ellana**

 

One second she saw a dark room. A room with Magisters and a slumbering demon. The next second, she saw green. Different shades of green. Dark green, light green. The only thing she knew she saw was the bodies of Max, Cassandra and Cole. They were falling, falling and falling. 

 

Suddenly, they hit the floor hard, and pain shot through Ellana’s ribs. She struggled to get up as she saw Max, Cassandra and Cole. 

“Where are we?” she asked as Max and Cassandra shrugged their shoulders.

“I can feel it. Feel the darkness running through the castle. I can hear malevolent voices, calling out to me. They want to touch me. Comfort me. Turn me.” Cole said as Max shuddered.

“Keep that up, and I’ll piss my pants real soon,” he said as Ellana walked over to him.

“What do we do? We don’t know where we are, and what to do. We’ll be stuck here for Creators know how long without a plan.” 

Max stood thinking. “Does anybody have any idea of where we are?” He called out randomly.

“Looks like the fade, based on how much green there is. Green in the sky, green everywhere.”

“But if we’re in the fade, why is everything not chaotic? I thought the fade was supposed to be what anyone can bend to their benefit.”

“I guess we’re in a part of the fade that’s fixed?” Max said with uncertainty as he saw Ellana rubbing the ring that he gave her. He smiled. *Glad that’s come in handy* he thought as he saw the Halla run out of her ring and Cassandra’s face gleam in surprise.

“Oh my gosh,” Cassandra said as she saw the tiny Halla prant around Ellana’s hand.

“Who gave you the ring? I need to ask that person to make me one, that looks so amazing,” Cassandra said as Ellana and Max blushed. They hadn’t told anyone Max had proposed, and they didn’t figure out how to tell.

“Well you see, the thing is,” Ellana said as Cassandra waited.

“Max proposed to me. In our cabin in the Planasenes. Under a meteor shower. When I accepted, he put this ring on my finger,” Ellana said as Max started to whistle and look away and scratch his hair. Cassandra’s heart melted as she looked at Max and Ellana. They made a beautiful couple, one that benefited the two members. 

“Congratulations!” Cassandra exclaimed as she gave Ellana a big hug. After they broke the hug, Ellana frowned.

“Anyone else hear the whispering? Or is it just me?” Ellana asked as the Cassandra shook her head.

“I can kind of faintly hear something. I don’t think it’s anything.” Max said.

“The Halla looks like it’s trying to say something,” he added as he pointed to the tiny thing on Ellana’s hands.

“I can understand it!” Ellana exclaimed. “It’s trying to tell me where to go. I think,” she finished as the Halla pranced toward their left and dissipated.

“I say we follow that,” Max said as he started walking. “Since we have no other plan.”

\--------------------------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------------------

**Lyna**

 

Just like Ellana, Lyna saw flashes of green. Her red hair flopped around as she fell down. She could barely make out Alistair, Oghren, and Stroud falling with her. She too hit the floor hard, but didn’t feel the pain as much.

“Why the hell do we have to do this again?” Alistair asked as he picked himself up.

“Wish I had some ale. And some stone above. Wish I was anywhere but the Fade!” Oghren yelled as he checked his pockets unsuccessfully for ale.

“What are we going to do? We don’t have a sense of direction, or any idea of where we are,” Stroud pointed out as he looked around. They were in a giant castle, with the ceiling ascending higher than they could see. 

“I think they mean the same thing,” Lyna said as she looked around too. There was some nagging voice in her head, whispering something that she couldn’t understand. There were two, both whispering different things. Weird.

“Does anybody else hear that?” Lyna asked as everybody nodded.    
“It’s like hissing, nagging at you constantly.” Alistair said as he slapped the back of his head. “Damn it’s annoying.”

“How do we figure out where we go? It’s not like you have a map to go anywhere.” Stroud said.

“I can also hear this other thing. I don’t think anybody can hear that.” Lyna said as Alistair nodded.

“I can faintly hear something. Really faintly, but still something,” Alistair said as Lyna pointed.

“It seems that the whisperings get stronger if we go that way,” Lyna said.

“What do we do? Do we go towards the danger and potentially commit suicide or do we go- goddammit we’re going to have to commit suicide,” Alistair said as he looked around and found no other way to go.

“Then we go suicide way. We die in glory,” Oghren said as they started walking.

\---------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------------

**Merrill**

 

Merrill could faintly hear something. Someone, speaking. Talking to her. 

“Merrill. Merrill. My love. Wake up. Please.” She could hear as she barely opened her eyes. She saw Hawke, with his bearded face and his wide smile once he saw her wake up. 

“Thank the maker. I thought I had lost you,” Hawke said as he helped her up and hugged her.

“Where are we?” Varric asked as Bethany frowned.

“We’re in the fade. But that’s not pos-” she said as Varric interrupted. 

“Sunshine, nothing is impossible when you’ve got Hawke as a brother,” he said as Hawke laughed.

“I can sense strong magic coming from that way,” Bethany said as Merrill nodded.

“I agree. I also sense something else. Something possibly elven.” Merrill said as Hawke looked at her.

“How can you tell?”

“It’s … speaking to me in elvish. It’s trying to say something in elvish. But it’s too faint for me to understand,” Merrill replied as Hawke nodded.

“Then we follow as the women lead the way,” he said as Bethany and Merrill started walking with Hawke and Varric walking close behind.

\------------------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------

**Max**

 

“Are you sure you know what the halla is saying?”  Cassandra asked uncertainty as they kept walking on and on. This had been going on for Maker knows how long, and she was starting to feel hungry.

“Yes. I’m certain the Halla is somehow communicating in Elvish with me, but I don’t know how.” Ellana replied as Max came up to her.

“When I was in the Fade, it wasn’t this bad. Don’t take me wrong, we were in much more danger, but I had a huge fucking hole to look at to guide.”

Ellana looked up at him and smiled a minxy smile. “I like how you strung those words together in such a way that made them sound even better than before,” she said as Max was confused.

“Sound even bett- oh you fucker!” Max exclaimed as he playfully punched her. Not with his metal arm of course.

“I can feel it better. Darkness coursing through the veins of vice. Sacrifice. Disaster. Despair. Hope.”

“What is he saying?” Ellana asked as Max shrugged.

Suddenly, smoke appeared and three elven men appeared. One had a sword and shield, with ancient elven markings. One had daggers with the same markings. And one had a staff. With the same markings.

They said something in Elvish. Ellana struggled to understand them as she asked them to speak in King’s tongue.

“Halt strangers!” the warrior said. “What brings you here? And how did you get past the barrier?”

“I’m afraid we don’t know what barrier you’re talking about,” Max said as Cassandra nodded. 

“You got past the barrier? How?” the rogue asked as Cole suddenly appeared.

“It’s him!” The mage yelled. “Spawn of Mythal!” 

“The fuck? But he’s a spirit. And I thought Fen’harel killed Mythal.” Ellana said as the three elven people stared at her.

“How would Fen’harel kill Mythal? She was his lover, and he was hers.” The mage said as Max gasped.

“That means Cole is Solas’s kid,” he said as he grimaced. 

“Will you let us pass?” Cassandra asked. “We need to get out as soon as possible.”

“I meant to ask you,” Max also asked. “What are the Dalish doing here?”

The three elves frowned. “Who are this ‘Dalish’ you speak of?” they asked as Ellana came to a realization.

“Wait, if they don’t know what Dalish is, that means they must be elves from  _ Arlathan’s  _ time!”

“Aye,” the warrior said. “We were tasked to guard the  _ Bann’len’s  _ prison along with a lot of people. But somehow, the Beyond has separated. Now, we’re stuck here, waiting and waiting.”

“Bann’len,” Ellana said as she pondered. “What does that mean?”

“It slowly creeps. It’s dwindled, but is still there. And waiting. For any unlucky living being to step in its sight. To corrupt. To turn.”

“Darkspawn!” Cassandra yelled in realization. “They’re talking about the Darkspawn!”

“This is  _ Ban’Morvharlann _ .” The mage said. “The Black City.”

“If this is the Black City, does that mean the Magisters have been here?” Max asked.

“The  _ shemlen _ that broke in? Yes, and they stole the heart. Those idiots,” the rogue said.

“How did you survive?”

“Why do you care?” the rogue asked again as Max frowned. 

“Look, we’re trying to get out of here. The magisters? Yeah, they were the ones who sent us here. So your enemy’s my enemy too.”

“Fair. There are three parts to  _ Ban’Morvharlann _ .” the warrior said as he pulled up a map.

\---------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------------

**Hawke**

 

“Where are we Hawke?” Bethany asked as Hawke shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. Merrill and Varric were close behind, talking to themselves about something.

 

“Hawke, the Taint is in this place. If we don’t know where we are, we’ll be in danger,” Bethany continued as she felt a tingling and placed a barrier around everyone. Just then, three shrieks materialized out of thin air, slashing at the barrier and dissipating it. 

 

Hawke quickly disposed them with his daggers as they fell and Bethany and Merrill lit them on fire.

“Why are Shrieks here?” he asked as Merrill walked up to him.

“This place has something to do with the Elvhen and darkspawn. That’s the only way these are possible,” Merrill said as Varric frowned.

“But how can darkspawn be in the fade?” he asked. 

 

They kept walking down the corridor, and approached a barrier. Written on it was ancient elvish, which Merrill struggled to read.

“Beware, trespasser,” Merrill started. “Fear this place of darkness, for no one has stepped foot in here without losing themselves. Watch, for the guardians who sacrificed their lives are ripe for revenge. Fear, quicklings, as the blood of the void infects you. Writhe, as you turn into one of them. Die, as the quicklings did when they broke the seal and killed the world with vice.”

“Why is that so ominous?” Hawke asked as Bethany shrugged her shoulders. Suddenly, she collapsed, her skin suddenly turning white.

“BETHANY!” Hawke yelled as he ran to his sister. Her body was sweating, and her staff was glowing. 

“Daisy, what the fuck is happening?!” Varric yelled as Merrill took out a knife and went to slit her palm. 

“Merrill NO!” Hawke yelled as he dropped Bethany and snatched the knife from the elf’s hands. 

“How do we get past?” Merrill asked. She summoned a healing spell, and Bethany opened her eyes. She got up, looked at Hawke, and gave the We’re not talking about this again look. Hawke nodded as a spirit wisped into existence

 

“Greetings Champion. I see my brethren’s serving you well,” it said as they turned around and looked at him.

“What’s he talking about?” Merrill asked with concern on her face. If Hawke had a spirit inside of him, and he turned into an abomination, she couldn’t bear to kill him. 

“When I was dying in the fade after killing the demon, a spirit posing as you appeared. You had consoled me, eased all my pain. As I was ready to die, I closed my eyes, and the spirit went inside me.”

“So you’re an abomination. Good to know,” Varric said. 

“I’m not the first one though,” Hawke said as everybody laughed in memory of Anders.

“That spirit has transformed into something inside you. A spirit of power. Thankfully, it doesn’t talk to you, like the other one.” Merrill said as the spirit nodded.

“You’ll have to use your spirit to break the barrier. It gives you some magic,” it said as Hawke nodded and closed his eyes. 

*Hey buddy,* Hawke thought as something stirred inside him. *I want to thank you again for saving my life, but I have a favor to ask you.*

“Open Sesame!” Hawke yelled as the barrier ceased to exist and they casually walked on.

\----------------------------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------------                         

**Alistair**

 

Alistair stole peeks at Lyna when no one was looking. Her hair stood out against the green landscape, its red strands waving around in determination with its owner. Her hips swayed slightly every time she took a step. Alistair felt like a perv staring at her like this, but he couldn’t help but admire her. Whatever struggles he had gone through, she had gone through ten times worse. They had a lot of good memories, some bad ones, and a few varied ones. 

 

One varied one, which especially broke his heart and warmed it at the same time, was right before the landsmeet. Apparently, Lyna had spied on him and Eamon discussing about the heir to Ferelden’s throne. Eamon, an ardent supporter to the Therein line on the throne, argued with Alistair, who knew jack shit about politics, to be on the throne. He wanted him to marry Anora and learn from her as the years pass. 

_ “There’s no way I’m leaving her, Eamon,” Alistair said as Eamon fumed.  _

_ “You care more about that knife-ear than the throne of Ferelden? Ferelden’s future? You’re just like your father. Lusting after elven sluts and abandoning all your senses.” _

_ Alistair went to punch Eamon, but relented at the last second. “You know what Eamon? Go fuck yourself. I’ll go handle this myself.” _

 

It was that last statement that Lyna had heard when she eavesdropped. Presuming that Alistair was coming to tell that anything between them was over, Lyna ran to her room heartbroken. When Alistair went to her room, she had looked at him with red devilish eyes and told him to get out. Alistair had pleaded for her to listen, and told her that he didn’t want the throne, instead wanting to spend the rest of his days with her. She was relieved, and spent the night in the throes of pleasure. Alistair smiled. He was happy like this. With Lyna. Fighting for the Wardens. He wasn’t sure that he could ever like Anora or the machinations of the court.

 

“It’s just like witch lady said,” Oghren said as he walked next to him. “‘You find guidance in those swaying hips of hers?’” he said as Alistair turned around. 

“Least I don’t look to a bottle for guidance,” he said as he kept walking and left Oghren speechless.

\-----------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------

**Hawke**

 

“There’s a clearing ahead,” Varric said as the rest followed him. It was a big open space, with two hallways leading to the left and right, and one going forward. There was a mural on the ceiling, with seven dragons painted around a circle of script. Ancient Elvish, Hawke assumed.

 

“Do you have something to magnify that?” Merrill asked as Hawke gave her a magnifying glass and she looked through.

“This is the story of the ones of the war.” Merrill read. “The story of their bravery and ingenuity. The tale that every elvhen should know to heart.” 

Suddenly, Hawke heard footsteps, and alerted everyone to stand guard. He stood next to Merrill, who put the glass away and picked her staff up.

 

“Who’s there?” A voice called out that Hawke recognized. 

“Stand down,” he replied. “It’s Hawke.”

“Good,” Max replied as he and his party stepped out. 

“Oh look. Family,” Alistair said as he and his party stepped out too. Lyna laughed as she ran and hugged Merrill. Alistair and Max nodded at each other, while Varric and Ellana were talking, making fun of Cassandra together.

“What’s the mural say?” Max asked as Hawke shrugged and pointed to Merrill. Max proceeded to shush everybody, and Merrill took her glass out.

 

“This story starts back in the great war, where the Durgen’len fought to control the elvhen with their blue rocks and massive beings. The entirety of Elvenan rose up and fought against the aggressors. We won, and drove them down to their tunnel homes. The generals from the war were respected, revered like gods.” Merrill said as she stopped. “And it cuts off there.”

“The elves had fought the dwarves, and they had lost.” Max said. “This was the war Solas told me about.” 

When everybody stared at him, Max rushed to explain. “When I went into the Eluvian in the Exalted Council, I saw Solas, or rather, Fen’harel. He had told me that the Evanuris were nothing more than insanely powerful mages that used a war to grab power. This is what he meant.”

“Creepy,” Alistair said. “So, how about we move on and find out more?”

“Here’s the thing,” Ellana interrupted as she pulled out the map the three elves had given them. They proceeded to discuss where they had come from, and what hallways they traveled through. 

“There’s a central hub to all of this,” she said as her finger pointed at the map and her words mirrored the elves’. “Each hallway branches off more and more, and results in a spiderweb kind of building. We’re at one of the more major hubs, and we have quite aways to go to reach the central hub, which is where our assumed exit would be.” 

“And as we go closer, the taint gets stronger.” Bethany said. 

“And the elven whisperings. Can’t forget those,” Lyna added.

“Cool. So, how about we just keep walking?” Hawke said as everybody started walking towards the central hub.

 

As Merrill walked next to Hawke, he gripped her hand. In fear. In love. In every single emotion he could feel at that moment, he held his love’s hands. 

“What do you think the story’s trying to say?” he asked as Merrill shrugged.

“I don’t know. There isn’t enough information to tell.” 

“Now there is,” Hawke said as he pointed to the clearing and the mural in the ceiling. One look at Ellana’s map showed that they were a bit closer to the central hub.

Ellana, Merrill, and Lyna sat down as they looked up at the mural and left the others to awkwardly mill around.

“This was before we worshipped the Evanuris. This was when we revered the land for what it was, and what it gave us. The elven pleaded with the generals for them to take control, since the actual leaders had died in the war. Slowly, the legend of the generals grew until they were revered as gods. As the Evanuris. Elgar’nan, the king of the elven people, morphed into the elder god. Mythal, the queen, was his wife in the Pantheon. Theirs brothers and sisters became the other Evanuris. Mythal’s brothers, Falon’din and Dirthamen. Elgar’nan’s sisters Andruil and June. And finally, their child, Sylaise. They made up the gods we revere so vehemently, and that we will forever.”

Lyna looked up at the mural. “And then it cuts off.” she said as the three elves got up. 

“Shall we?” Max beckoned to the hallway in front of them.

 

Ellana glanced at Max, who was looking forward and leading the way. She still wondered how he managed it. Making decisions was tough on its own, but making decisions that could affect the world? Max took it all into stride. He had a natural affinity towards leadership, whether he admitted it or not, and Ellana looked up to him for that. Suddenly, she remembered something. Back before when Max had first asked her out, she had refused because she was Dalish, and that he was the Inquisitor. It was Adamant, and the fact that Max was almost dead that did it for Ellana. She still remembered her Keeper’s words, words about men and humans.

 

_ “Remember to keep an open mind, da’len. Never assume anything about a person until you get to know them. Because, under all that evil, a person might have some good.” _

 

She had severely misjudged him. This was right after her sister was raped and murdered by Templars, so Ellana had a slight bias against  _ shems _ when she had met Max. But he was so cute, bumbling his way through words and into her heart. And when he had outright asked her, she didn’t know what to do. To be Dalish, or not to be Dalish? She had decided to screw it, and professed her love for him at the grove during the full moon, resulting in them sharing their “first” kiss. 

 

“Third mural, coming right up,” Max said as they heard a shriek pierce the air. Alistair yelled out for darkspawn as a horde of shrieks materialized and started slashing away at the group.

 

“Should’ve told us earlier, huh?” Hawke said as he sliced through the shrieks and Bethany healed him. He saw Merrill funneling the darkspawn in for Cassandra to cut down, while Cole had completely disappeared. Varric, Oghren and Stroud were in the distance, fighting another band of shrieks. Max and Ellana were back to back, fighting a group of shrieks on their own, as were Alistair and Lyna. 

 

“Now that that’s taken care of, how about we analyze?” Oghren asked as Ellana looked up.

 

“Forever they lived, as they invested part of their souls in the most impenetrable organism there is. Dragons.”

“Well now we know that’s bullshit,” Max said as Ellana glared at him, and he shut up.

“They put these dragons in hidden, sealed and elaborate prisons below the ground. Land unconquered by the dwarves. From a threat of more violence, the dwarves never touched the land. There, they will rest for eternity, ensuring that the Evanuris will never perish. Bow to the elders, and praise the Evanuris, for they are the one who truly brought salvation and peace to the elven.” Ellana finished as Varric smirked.

“This is a poor way to induce propaganda into the people. Me, I wouldn’t be so upfront with it.”

“Shut the fuck up, dwarf,” Cassandra grunted as she turned to Ellana. “Will these dragons pose a threat to the people in any way?” she asked as Alistair shook his head.

 

“I’ve been giving some thought to the seven dragons. My theory is that they are the Old Gods,” he said as everybody rushed to contradict him. 

“Wait! As I said, I’ve been giving some thought. So hear me out. Seven dragons, Seven Evanuris, not including Ghilanain and Fen’harel, who aren’t originally Evanuris, and seven old gods. Don’t you see the pattern?” 

“It could all be a coincidence. Alistair, you never know…” Cassandra stopped saying as Lyna held her hand up. 

“Perhaps we shall discuss this as we move on,” she gestured forward as they all walked. Another glance at Ellana’s map told them that they were close to the central hub. Only one more intersection to go, and they could potentially go home. 

 

As they entered the next hub, Max started seeing green mist come up. “Oh shit,” he heard himself and Lyna and Alistair, and Hawke say as everybody started to choke and fall down.


	19. Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams. Some sad, and some happy.

**Max**

 

“Da. Da. Da!” Max heard as he shot up. He was in a house, next to the sea. It was a relatively big house, with two rooms, and a main room and a kitchen. He could smell bread baking, and could hear the wind rustling the trees outside.

He looked down to see a child, who had green eyes and chestnut hair. Her hair was braided into a ponytail, and she was wearing a beige tunic. 

“ _ Mamae _ ’s calling you for lunch. It’s your favorite, bread with lentil soup.” the child said as Max adjusted to the setting around. *This is my child,* Max thought as he got up. *My child, with my wife.* Max smiled. *Not bad,* he thought as he walked to the main room. It had a magnificent view, opening towards open sea. Another window opened towards rows and rows of fields. Max could already see farmers doing their work.

Ellana walked over, with a steaming bowl of lentil soup and bread to the table. Max smiled at Ellana as she sat down, and started to eat. Max helped his child get some, and started eating. 

 

“Alice!” Max heard as Alice looked over at Ellana and made a face, the same face that Max made whenever he wanted to do something really bad and had to ask his mother. 

Ellana laughed. “Finish up, and you can go out and play.” Alice ate quickly, and left her plate on the counter, running out to play.

“Kids,” Ellana said as she got up with Max and went to the kitchen to wash dishes. Max accompanied her to wash the dishes. Max picked up a dish and started to scrub it as Ellana stared at the dish. Max gripped her hand. “What is it, love?” he asked as she smiled and looked at him. 

“It’s just that.. That I can’t believe we have such a peaceful life. Neighbors that care for us, a community we can be proud of, a house to rest in, a child to love, and each other. Never had I thought we’d have an ending like this, after everything happened.” she said as she leaned on his shoulders.

“It is high time we get a break. After all, we are heroes. We did help the world not die.” Max said as he breathed in her scent. She smelled of pine and the forest. She had an earthy scent, something Max couldn’t get enough of. 

“I had a nightmare,” Max said as Ellana turned around. “It was from Weisshaupt. When we were going through that one castle.”

“It’s alright,” Ellana muttered as she pulled him into a kiss, and he readily responded. He nipped at her neck, right under her ears, which made Ellana moan. She nipped at the crick of his neck, making his body shudder. They both walked to their room, embraced in each other’s arms, lips entangled, as Ellana opened the door and fell on their bed. Max jumped on, and continued their love-making, as the door closed with the wind.

\------------------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------

**Alistair**

They set camp up near the Planasene forest. Lyna went out to hunt for dinner, while Alistair went to a nearby town to barter for thick clothes for the upcoming winter. They were journeying towards Weisshaupt, looking for answers to their endless questions. 

 

“How much for the coat miss?” he asked as the woman replied that it was 30 silvers. Alistair bought two of them, and walked back to the tent to find Lyna roasting rabbit. 

He sat down next to her and looked at the setting sun. The sky was beautiful, painted with streaks of orange and red, and far above, a dark shade of blue. It reflected off the lake in front of them, creating the most heavenly landscape the Maker could make. 

“Dinner’s ready,” Lyna said as she gave Alistair rabbit stew in a bowl. Alistair quickly devoured the food, marvelling at the elf’s cooking ability and the taste of the stew.

“Hungry, are we?” Lyna chuckled as she slowly ate the warm stew.

“It’s a combination of me being a Grey Warden and you cooking. Mostly you, but still.” Alistair said as he smiled.

Lyna finished eating, and washed the bowl in the lake as Alistair joined her. When she was concentrated in her effort, Alistair splashed some water on her. 

“You!” Lyna yelled as she turned around and splashed him back. They proceeded to have a “splash war”, as Alistair would put it. By the end of it, Alistair and Lyna were thoroughly soaked, and were drying themselves off. After that, they crept into their tent, and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

 

Alistair heard hissing in his head. This was bad.

“Darkspawn!” He yelled as Lyna woke up, and a band of darkspawn roared.

Alistair cut the tent down, and stood up as a hurlock charged at him. Blocking it with his shield, Alistair sliced its head off.  He charged towards a genlock, and sensing its magic, smote it. It fell down as he heard Lyna snarl and charge at the hurlocks. Alistair also ran towards to help, but felt a dagger sprout from his knee, sending him tumbling towards the floor. He cried out in pain as a shriek materialized and slashed at his back, tearing through his armor and grafting his skin. He fell down, seeing Lyna stabbed by the Hurlock and collapsing to the floor. He crawled forward, trying to pick his sword up and kill them. Another genlock spotted him, and threw a knife that found his belly, flattening Alistair to the ground. He watched in sorrow and pain as the monsters broke Lyna’s jaw and carried her off to wherever they went to. 

He cursed the Maker. Cursed him for ruefully smiling upon the Wardens, yet doing nothing to help them. Cursed him for creating the hubris that had possessed those Magisters to enter the Golden City and release the Blight upon the world. Cursed him for creating those monsters that had taken his wife, and were going to turn her into a Mother. Cursed himself for not being quick enough to detect the the threat. And cursed himself for not being there for Lyna.

\---------------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------

**Hawke**

 

Hawke shot up from his slumber. He was in a flat land, extending forever, bordered by a setting sun. He moved his hands and felt water. Getting up, he didn’t feel wet, but water covered the flat landscape. Merrill was, for some reason, in the distance looking for something unknown. 

Hawke walked over to her and tapped her shoulders, causing her to jump back in fright and quickly relax as she saw who it was. 

“You’re awake. That’s good. I don’t know where the others are though. They might be sleeping, they might be awake, or they might be gone. Or I could shut up,” Merrill said as Hawke parted a stray strand of hair and hugged her tightly.

“Come, let’s walk,” Hawke said as they started walking into the distance.

 

As they kept walking, Merrill started to ask him questions.

“Is this what it was like in the Fade? Nothingness and nothingness?”

“Not at all. There were some forms of spirits or another, or a stray rock dotting the landscape. Nothing like this. I’ve never seen something so- empty,” Hawke replied as Merrill nodded.

She summoned a blue aura in her hands, and waved it around. Suddenly, they entered a landscape populated by farmlands, children playing, and houses dotting the hills by the sea. Hawke walked towards the children as one recognized him and yelled, “Champion!”. Hawke instantly got tackled by what seemed like six kids, each one of them screaming his name. 

“Come on Valerie,” a boy said. “Let’s go tell da and ma about this,” he said as the two kids started running back, and everyone started going back. Except for one girl.

“You look a lot like what da and  _ mamae _ said,” she said as Merrill knelt down. 

“And who is your  _ mamae _ ?” Merrill asked as the girl pointed to her house. 

“Her name is Ellana,” she said as the other kids called her and she left.

“What are we doing? Where are we?” Hawke asked as he followed Merrill to Ellana’s house.

“The others are trapped by a Sloth demon. It was a trap designed by the elves to not allow anyone near whatever’s in the center. Since we woke up first, I’m trying to get to the others to wake them up. First up is Max and Ellana.” Merrill said as she knocked on their door.

 

Ellana opened the door and smiled. “Merrill!” she exclaimed as she hugged her and invited them inside. They had a quaint little house, not too big but not too small and the right amount of luxury. Max was inside, cooking something when he saw Hawke. 

“Nice to see you,” Max said as he left the kitchen and sat down with Ellana.

“How have you been? It’s been years since we’ve seen you, and you’ve got a family and all! Without any chaos!” Hawke said as Max laughed.

“I was expecting the chaos part too, but things are good. Ellana and I are living a happy life, with our daughter Allison keeping us company. We’ve got good neighbors who care about us, and a mayor who’s just and fair. Speaking of Allison,” Max said as Allison walked in after playing outside.

“Hello, Ser,” Allison said as she went and snuggled next to her mom.

“It feels like a dream to be honest,” Ellana said with Max nodding along with her, causing Hawke and Merrill to look at each other. 

*Max isn’t the demon.* Hawke thought. *Neither is Ellana,* Merrill thought.

“The child,” Hawke and Merrill said together as Allison snarled. Ellana jumped away as Hawke threw a knife quickly at the demon. It shrieked and collapsed, taking the dream with it. Max and Ellana fell down into the lake where they started from. 

“The child!” Ellana cried as Max put a hand on her shoulder. “Is not a child. A demon really,” he said as he pulled Ellana in close to comfort her and break the vision. “How did you know?” he asked Merrill as she shrugged. 

“Demons never talk about dreaming. It’s the one thing that wakes the victim up. So when you didn’t change the topic after Ellana said what she said, we assumed it had to be the child. But, this is the first time I’ve seen a demon use an idea to control people.”

“Well thank you nevertheless,” Max said as he got up and held a hand for Ellana.

“Now what?” she asked.

“We find the others, and get out,” Hawke said as Merrill opened up two pathways. One led to a dark and gloomy landscape, and the other one led to a blood-red sky with cries and shouting. 

“Eeny meeny meiny moe,” Max said as he kept pointing at both of them. “I don’t want to go to either one, but let’s go to this,” he said as he went through the dark and stormy one, with Ellana following him and Merrill looking at him sadly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for enduring the wait! Make sure to comment down what you think, and also any prompts you want me to write (since I am starting a prompts series and want inspiration.) 
> 
> Thanks,  
> FanFictionNerd456


	20. Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More action in the fade. Sorry for the long delay.

**Max**

 

“Let’s never do that again,” Max said as he and Ellana analyzed their surroundings. They were on a plain, with a forest to their left and more plains to their right. In front was a tent with a dying ember. 

“Hush,” Ellana said as her ears perked up. Max could hear it too. Gasping. Desperate gasping. Max ran towards the sound to see a sight he never wished to see again. Alistair, leaning on a fallen log, trying to treat his grave injuries. 

“ALISTAIR!” Ellana yelled as Max followed Ellana and slid next to Alistair.

“Who are you?” He groaned. “Scratch that, why are you here?”

“Alistair, it’s us. Ellana and Max.” Ellana desperately said as Alistair shook his head.

“This is just a dream. Just like in the circle. This is a dream. A dream that needs to stop if I can get to Lyna.”

“Alistair,” Max said gravely. “What happened to Lyna?”   
“FUCKING DARKSPAWN HAPPENED!” he roared. “YOU WOULD THINK, AFTER ALL THAT HAPPENED TO US, THE MAKER WOULD HAVE MERCY! BUT NO! WE GET FUCKED AGAIN AND AGAIN, AND THIS HAPPENED. LYNA CAPTURED BY THE DARKSPAWN, DESTINED TO TURN INTO A BROODMOTHER, EVEN AFTER ALL THAT SHE WENT THROUGH! Ah shit,” Alistair yelled and quickly calmed down as blood spurted out of his many wounds.

“Alistair, this is a dream, all of this. We are real, and you are real. But this landscape. This nightmare, it’s not real. Lyna’s waiting for you. Topside. You need to trust me.” Max said as Alistair vehemently shook his head and gasped as another spurt of blood shot out. 

“Alistair, listen to me. If you can answer this question correctly, we are demons, and you aren’t dreaming. But if you don’t, we aren’t demons, and you are in a dream. That’s how this works.”

Alistair nodded.

“How did you get here?” 

“Well that’s easy. Lyna and I were camping here, trying to get to Weisshaupt. We came here from…” Alistair said as he started thinking, despite his blood flowing out.

“We came from…. Wait a minute this is actually a dream?” 

“Yep. And I’m saying sorry for this in advance,” Ellana said as she drew out a knife and stabbed Alistair in the heart.

\--------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------------

**Merrill**

 

Merrill and Hawke materialized in front of a cave. The sky was splattered with blood red, with orange popping in between. There was an air of desperation and despair, with roars echoing from the distance. Merrill looked around. She was in a plain, decimated by what seemed to be the Blight, rotting and killing every living thing in its wake. 

“Should we enter the cave?” Hawke asked as he deferred to Merrill’s leadership. She was the mage, the one who was most used to lucid dreams like this. 

Merrill nodded as they stepped in with caution. A wave of stink hit them as Merrill’s nose revolted against her mind. 

*The taint,* Merrill realized. “You can feel it too?” Hawke asked as  Merrill nodded. They walked ever so slowly into the cave, Hawke with his daggers out and Merrill with her staff at the ready. 

 

As they slowly entered a fork, they saw something writhing on the ground. When Merrill stepped closer to investigate, she recoiled in horror as the woman crawled up to the wall. 

 

“Those monsters….” she quietly whispered. “They don’t spare anyone. Kill the men for sport. Rape and torture the women until we become them. Fucking monsters, they are,” the woman kept muttering as Merrill slowly stepped back and took the cave to the left. 

 

When she walked down through that, she found an even more horrible sight. An elf, rocking back and forth on the ground, whispering to herself.

 

“He loves me, he loves me not.” The elf kept muttering as Merrill approached closer. 

“Why would he do this to me? No, this isn’t his fault. He tried to protect me, save me from them. But he failed. They slaughtered him. Hunted him for sport, just like Hespith said. Then they took me. Took me to their lair. Had their way with me. Inside and out. 1, 2, 3, 4, and many more. They, they filled themselves inside me, turned me into them. Oh, Alistair, why’d you leave me?” the elf suddenly started crying as Merrill gasped. It was Lyna. 

 

“Wait! I know you! You were one of my friends, from my home. I remember! We played near the trees. The river. Then the Keeper called us back. Saying that you have studies. I remember, you were my best friend. You loved butterflies and flowers, and had a crush on Tamlen. I remember! I remember!” Lyna screamed as she firmly clutched onto Merrill’s shoulders. 

Then she suddenly started crying.

“Merrill, please help. The song, it’s in my head. I’ve been ruined by those monsters. Raped again and again. They, they filled me with themselves. Now I’m turning into one of them. One of the broodmothers. Please kill me. Please!”

Merrill nodded as she drew out a knife, and stabbed at Lyna’s abdomen.

\--------------------------------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------------

 

“Merrill!” Lyna suddenly barreled into Merrill as she embraced her.

“We’re safe now. No more tears. You’re alright. It was all a dream,” Merrill soothingly said as Lyna cried into her shoulders. 

“I hear running,” Hawke said as he drew his daggers out in anticipation. But it was just Max, Ellana, and Alistair.

“Lyna!” Alistair exclaimed as husband and wife reunited in glee, tears shedding everywhere.

Both of them leaned their forehead against each other, enjoying each other’s touch. Alistair quietly shedding tears as Lyna completely bawled her eyes out. Alistair pulled Lyna into a kiss. A kiss that showed how much his heart broke in his nightmare. His feeling of distress and despair. It showed his pain, and his dependency on his wife. Lyna returned it with even more fervor. She relished his warmth on her body. His intimate caring for her. But most of all, the taste of cheese he always has. 

 

“Ahem, not to be mean or anything, since you two are seeing each other after hell, but I think we have to move on,” Max slowly as Lyna and Alistair broke their kiss and got up.

\-------------------------------------------------------x------------------------------------------------------------

“Cole?” Hawke asked as the benevolent spirit whisked into existence, along with Stroud, Oghren, Cassandra, Varric, and Bethany.

 

“Hawke!” Bethany yelled as she ran over to embrace her elder brother. Cassandra and Ellana hugged each other as Stroud and Alistair shook hands, Oghren hugged Lyna, and Varric was left with Max.

 

“What the hell happened?” Varric asked as Max shook his head, and pointed forward. Once everybody regrouped, Max trudged on forward, with the others behind him. 

 

After what seemed like an eternity passing green wall after wall, they reached a wooden door. It was massive, and indicated that something bad was on the other side.

 

“Everybody ready?” Max asked as he drew his daggers. 

“Ready to get out of this shithole,” Lyna responded as she drew her dalish broadswords out.

“If a shithole’s this green, you need to see a healer. Other than that, I’m ready,” Hawke remarked as he stepped forward and slowly pushed the door open.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------x--------------------------------------------------

**Lyna**

 

Lyna was suddenly hit with an onslaught of whispering in her mind. 

  
“Release us,” the voice hissed. “We are you, you are us. We are one. Release me. Free me. The song calls you.”

 

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Lyna screamed out as Max turned around and stared at her. 

 

The other Wardens had similar reactions, with Bethany gripping her head hard and Alistair muttering to himself. 

 

“Beware,” another voice whispered to her, this one less jarring and more comforting. “Strong magic lies here, magic that has been tampered with before.”

 

“Who else hears the voices?” Lyna asked as Ellana, Merrill, Alistair, Oghren, Stroud, Bethany, and Max raise their hand.

 

“Mine is asking to free the voice,” Alistair said as the other Wardens nodded.

“Mine warns of strong magic,” Merrill said as Ellana nodded with her.

“I can only hear incoherent whispering. I can’t actually understand it,” Max said.

“Probably because of that,” Varric said as he pointed to a small cage sitting on a stand. Black and blue flames sputtered from it, and the whispering increased as they got closer to the cage.

 

Suddenly, an apparition emerged out of existence. It was wearing a knight’s helmet, and plate armor. It had a sword sheathed in its hip, and a shield on its back.

 

“Cole, what are you doing here? With shem?” the spirit asked as Cole jumped back.

“It’s you. You’re the one. From my memories. We stood guard here. When the wicked men barged in. We were the one who tried to fight. They killed you, and launched me into the real world. Your body is no more. And mine was badly damaged, so I had to find another one.”

“You’re right,” the spirit said back. “It’s been a while,” 

The two spirits embraced each other. Max didn’t know whether to smile or cry or to do what.

“You say you know the place?” he asked as the spirit nodded. 

“Then tell me where the fuck we are.” Max growled as the spirit nodded.

 

“This is  _ Ban’Morvharlann.  _ Or as Cole told me, the Black City. This cage once held the entire essence of the Blight. Sealed with elven magic to prevent another tragedy. There were inscriptions of the Evanuris to remind everyone of our job. Most of the elves here got killed when the 7 humans broke in and tried to steal “the power”. Idiots. Them somehow breaking the cage ripped a hole in the veil, and sent the men and the Blight into the world.”

“So there is no Golden City? No throne of the Maker?” Cassandra asked, clearly distressed.

“Nope. This city was always black, and would’ve stayed that way.”   
Cassandra nodded, clearly distraught. 

“So how do we get out?” Ellana asked and quickly changed the topic.

“You’re going to have to break the cage. Just like the shem before you did.”

Lyna took in a breath. “Break the cage with the Blight inside of it. Great.”

 

Bethany pondered on how to achieve that, and suddenly had an idea. 

“What if we could focus enough magic into the cage? Would that break it?”

“We only have two mages here. There would be not nearly enough energy,” Stroud pointed out. 

“I have the spirit inside of me. I could channel magic using that.”   
“And, just this once, I can use blood magic. Just so I can amplify my power,” Merrill said as Ellana.

“Wait, I recognize that arm. That, that was from the Great War. The War to end all wars. The arms were used by the dwarves to harness magic. They used the lyrium on those arms to create magic and spells.” the spirit said.

“So I’m a mage,” Max said. “But without any magic in me.”

“Apparently. Well, shall we?” Bethany asked as Max asked.

Just when the spirit said that, the arm had an entity of its own. *Where am I? Where’s the fucking midget that tried to bind me? I swear, I’ll burn him and send him to the void.*’

*Woah buddy,* Max thought. *What are you?*

*Who the fuck are you? Oh wait, are you one of the people that aren’t midgets but as annoying? Because if it’s true, I will explode this arm right now.*

*What is up with you spirit? Here I thought we were best friends. I was even going to make you my best man.*

*Fuck off,* the spirit replied as Max laughed, and everybody looked at him.

*Alright, we’re going to die if you don’t do your magicky stuff. So please?*

*Fine.*

 

“Fade to Max,” Ellana said as Max suddenly shook his head and sighed.

“I’m ready. Let’s go,” he said as he raised his left arm and pointed at the cage.

*Here goes nothing,* Hawke and Max thought simultaneously as 4 powerful amounts of magical energy collided with the cage, sending a blinding flash throughout the room. The mages groaned as the magic sapped the life out of each of them. Max fell onto his knees, gripping his metal arm tightly as it sent shocks throughout his body. 

 

Then, the light flashed out. Darkness enveloped the room.

 

The cage started vibrating. It groaned, moving back and forth.

 

Then a boom. A big boom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment any feedback, or any prompt ideas! Otherwise, enjoy your day!


	21. Back to Weisshaupt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ending to the Battle of Weisshaupt. After this, we'll get back into the other conflicts like the Tevinter-Qunari War, the conflict between Ferelden and Orlais, and most importantly, the conflict against Fen'harel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone,  
> Sorry for the approximately 2 month delay. A combination of writer's block and personal matters took my time away from me. Hope you enjoy this (very) long chapter that I spent a long time on. Comment down below what you liked and disliked about it, and if you're new, leave a kudos. Otherwise, enjoy!
> 
> -FanFictionNerd456

Cough. Cough. Cough.

Black. All black. Surrounding him.

*Where am I? And why does my head hurt so much?*

Trying to get up, but failing. 

Then, light flashing. Lots of light. Blinding. So very blinding.

\-------------------------------------------------------x------------------------------------------------------------

**Max**

 

*Hey. Hey. HEY!*

 

Max shot up. He was on a smooth floor, with water surrounding him. A brilliant scene of the night sky painted everything else. Max lifted his arm with the spirit in it and looked at it. 

 

*where are we?* Max asked as he felt the spirit think.

*We are in a place called the Forever Place. This was a crossroads of sorts, where the elves were sent to guard the cage. From here, they were sent to the Black City, where they would be for eternity.*

*Will we be here forever?* Max asked.

*No. Since the barrier was broken, and the blight released, this place has lost its power of eternity. A simple spell should be able to open a portal back to the real world. A spell I can do*

 

*Wait.* Max ordered as he started to walk towards something shiny. 

They were new weapons. For him. 

Max picked them up. Perfect weight and balance for him. Who made this, and why would they keep it here?

*Those are designed just for you. By who, I know not. But they have special powers. That only you can harness.*

*Sweet. Now that we have these, we can go.*

*Wait a minute. Before we do that, do you know where everybody else is?*  Max asked

*I know not.*

*Alright. Open the portal*

\---------------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------

**Ellana**

 

Curse these darkspawn. For ages and ages. 

When she, Cassandra and Varric popped out of the fade, they were in the same room as one of the magisters. Luckily, Varric managed to cloak them so that they could rest without being spotted.

Each one of them felt queasy, yet infinitely more powerful. Stronger and less tired too.

“What happened to us?” Cassandra asked as Ellana shrugged her shoulders and Varric shushed everyone. 

“What happened to them?” the magister asked who was presumably his servant.

“I detect them in the fade. They will probably be stuck for eternity while you conquer the world master.”

*Fuck. A slave,* Ellana thought as anger boiled through her. Varric looked at her and shushed her.

“Good. Inform the others about this. Now is the time to celebrate our return.” the magister said as the slave walked away. 

“Should we attack him?” Cassandra whispered as Ellana started moving. Her footsteps quiet, she moved behind him, waiting to strike him.

*What happened to Max?* Ellana suddenly thought as she frantically looked around. *No. Focus on the mission at hand,* she thought to herself again. She instructed Cassandra to move to the front of the magister, and Varric to hit him with the explosive shot on her command.

 

Ellana looked at him in the eye, though he did not know it. His skin was torn with red lyrium, just like Corypheus, but he was adorned with a crown, unlike the architect and Corypheus. His robes were the same as the Architect’s and Corypheus’s, yet they were also tattered with red lyrium. His eyes would’ve been blue once, and his face called handsome once. But that was all in the past. Now, he’s an evil magister hell bent on destroying the world. And they were going to stop him.

 

Ellana closed her fist just as she drew her greatsword out and stabbed his abdomen. Cassandra took her sword out, and swiped at his neck. Varric launched an explosive poisoned shot, that aimed for his head.

The Magister roared in pain, and with a swipe of magic, blasted the three away from him.

 

“You mere mortals. Trying to grasp at power you cannot even imagine!” The magister mocked as he got ready to use his magic. Suddenly, a white light appeared above him, and he collapsed to the ground. Ellana turned around to see Cassandra smiting him. *Now’s the chance,* Ellana thought as she drew Cometfell, her greatsword, and charged at the magister. Every hit she landed on him did nothing to faze him. Ellana roared a cry of taunt as darkspawn materialized into existence.

“Take care of the darkspawn. He’s mine,” Ellana said as the Magister got back up obviously weakened. 

“You fucking knife-ear. Not sensible enough to bow down to your superiors, so you fight them. Fight, for you shall not triumph.” The Magister mocked again as a staff appeared into his hand. Suddenly, the magister charged at her, with the staff turning into a sword and aimed right for her heart. Ellana quickly rolled out of the way, barely missing the blade. Ellana muttered a prayer to the Creators, disregarding the fact that they were mere mortals, and swiped at the magister. It landed, with her sword cutting his arm. The magister got up, and a duel ensued. Metal clanged against metal, and sparks flew out. The Magister matched her every move, and Ellana tried to keep up. She was slowly losing energy. Then, something kicked in her. She felt renewed, as if she had slept for a week. With this, she charged at the magister, driving him back more and more.

 

The Magister, getting pushed farther back and back, realized what he had to do. He unleashed a blast of energy, knocking Ellana back again.

 

The magister leapt back now, and threw daggers at Ellana. She blocked each one with her sword, not realizing that it was a ploy and that the magister would rush in and stab her. This is precisely what he did, driving his sword through her stomach, and pushing her to the ground. Ellana gasped, and fell with the blade as the Magister leapt on top of her. He had a sadistic smile to his face as he drove his blade in further. 

 

Ellana tried to grab her dagger, but the Magister saw. He picked her arm up, and broke it. A crack rang throughout the field, with Ellana not even having enough energy to yell.

 

*This is it.* Ellana thought. *I can’t fight back. That short burst ran out. My other arm is broken too.*

*Shut up!* Another part of her thought. *You are Ellana Lavellan, and you will get up right now!*

 

“Any last words, you piece of knife-eared shit?” The Magister asked.

 

“You should’ve aimed for the head.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------

**Lyna**

 

“Get up. Come on, get up!”

Ellana weakly opened her eyes, and peered at Alistair’s face. Blood was splattered throughout his face. Dirt stuck to his face, but his smile still stuck. That cheeky grin brought her up into his arms, and to his lips. 

Alistair cupped her face. He could never get enough of her. Her fiery red hair. Her subtle vallaslin. Her scent of earth and plants. 

“You okay?” Alistair asked as Lyna shook her head no, and got back up with his support.

 

Oghren and Stroud were nursing their wounds to the side. Stroud had a giant cut in his belly, and he was trying to stop the bleeding. Oghren’s sides were bleeding with his face and every other body part.

  
“Did we win?” Lyna asked as Alistair nodded gravely.

“You finally got her to get back up!” Oghren yelled out with a smile as Lyna raised her eyebrows.

“You were out for about five hours. I don’t know if those five hours are the same outside, but in here, five hours.” Stroud solemnly said as Alistair set Lyna down. He gave her some bandages, and sat down to help her stop the bleeding.

“Where are the others?” she asked as Alistair shook his head.

“As far as I know, we all came out at different points. Max and his group probably landed somewhere far away. Same with Hawke.”

“Is there any way we can regroup?” Lyna asked as she suddenly winced. Alistair had just sewn a wound shut. 

“Not without getting lost. We have no clue where everybody else are.”

“Alistair,” Stroud suddenly called out as they all turned around.

\----------------------------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------------

**Merrill**

 

He was completely exhausted. She knew it, everybody else knew it. When Hawke and the spirit inside of him met the magister, Hawke unleashed an explosion so great that it drove everybody back far, and incinerated the magister. 

Hawke was barely breathing after that, his heart beating raggedly. Merrill and Bethany combined a spell that revived him barely. Then they walked. Walked on and on. The exhaustion remained. But their energy didn’t run out. They didn’t feel hunger or thirst. So they walked on until by some chance they found Lyna and the others with her. Merrill saw Alistair nurse Lyna’s wounds, and Stroud and Oghren nurse their wounds.

“Where are Max and the others?” Merrill asked as Stroud shrugged his shoulders. 

“Where’s Varric?” Alistair asked as Bethany shook her head. 

“Is he dead?” Lyna asked.

“Hopefully not. He wasn’t there when we landed.”

“What happened to Hawke?”

“To kill the magister, he and the spirit created a massive burst of energy. It killed the magister, but almost killed Hawke.”

“So what now?” Bethany asked as silence filled the air. No one wanted to get up because of the fatigue, but they had to find Max, Ellana, Varric, Cassandra, and Cole. 

 

Suddenly, Cole appeared next to Stroud, sending him flying back in surprise.

“I know where Max is. He’s in the fade.”

Merrill looked at him in surprise. “He’s still in the fade? What about the others?”

Cole shook his head. “I do not know. The only reason I know he’s there is because of the spirit inside of him.”

“Should we walk then? Since there’s nothing else to do?” Bethany asked as everybody else nodded.

\-------------------------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------------

The Magister looked up. Ellana also craned her neck to see. 

It was Max. Walking out of a portal with a night sky and a bright orange ground. He was walking with defiance in his step, something like saying “fuck you” but in action. 

“What’d you say?” The Magister asked as Max cracked his neck.

“You should’ve aimed for the head!” he roared back as he threw one of his daggers at the Magisters. Wait a minute, those weren’t his daggers, or daggers at all. These ones were new tomahawks, with a shining silver axtop, and a black handle. When it hit the magister, it glowed red, and Ellana turned to see Max flying towards the Magister, with his foot out.

 

Boom, kicked Max as the Magister flew back. Max threw the other tomahawk at the magister, which pulled him back straight into Max’s tomahawk, which sliced a deep cut into his torso.

The Magister roared. He got back up, summoned his staff, and tried to hit Max. However, Max casually disarmed the Magister and sent him to the ground with a kick that would break his ribs. 

 

Max picked the staff up. He wound up, and swung at the magister’s face, breaking his jaw. 

“This is what you get for trying to take over the world.”   
Max wound up again, and swung at the magister’s face again, injuring him terribly yet again.

“This is what you get for all of your sins.”

Max wound up one final time, and before swinging, sighed.

“This is what you get for hurting my wife. My family. My love.”

This blow killed the magister, the trauma being too much for him. Max swung again, again, and again, to make sure that he killed him.

 

Then, he ran to his wife. Ellana was bleeding out fast, with a large and deep wound near her abdomen. 

“You’re not dying on me, come on!” Max yelled as he picked her up and started running over to Varric and Cassandra, who had just finished fighting the darkspawn.

 

Ellana started to close her eyes, not being able to bear the pain inside of her. The wound was deep, cutting into her ribs and her organs. She could feel the blood gushing out, and her head becoming light. Really really light. If she just closed her eyes, she could sleep. Sleep sounded really good.

 

Max gently set her down next to Cassandra, who already had bandages out. She tossed some to Max as he started unwrapping them and covering Ellana’s wound. *Shit,* he cursed as he analyzed the wound. It was deep, fatally deep. Max applied some elfroot salve to the wound, to help seal it. 

*I can help,* the spirit said to him as Max was caught off guard.

*How? What can you do?*

*I am a spirit of power. Any magic you want to do, you can amplify through me, and I’ll make it stronger.*

*But I can’t do magic. That’s why I have two axes instead of a staff.*

*You have magic in your blood. Powerful, but not powerful enough to use by itself. However, with me, you can cast as much magic as you want.*

Max took a deep breath in. *Okay, here goes nothing,* he thought as the spirit somehow summoned a healing spell. He aimed his arm towards the wound, and cast. 

 

A golden glow surrounded Ellana. Her wound started to seal, with skin tissue reforming and closing the deep cut. Color also returned to Ellana’s cheeks, making them rosy and beautiful again. After the spell finished, Ellana slowly got up.

 

“My head hurts,” she slowly said as she leaned on Cassandra and massaged her forehead. Once she finished, she looked up to see Max.

 

“M-Max?” she slowly asked as Max flashed a cheeky smile. 

“You’re alive!” she yelled as she bound for him, and hugged him like it was their last time together. 

“But, how?” she asked as she let go of him and sat back down. 

“I was meaning to ask you the same thing,” Cassandra asked as she and Varric both sat down. 

“It’s a really complicated story.” Max replied as he heard footsteps.

“Who’s there?” He yelled as he got back up and drew his tomahawks. 

“Relax. It’s only us.” Hawke said as the rest of the group emerged.

\----------------------------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------------

 

“What happened?” Alistair asked as Max and the others stood up.

“We fought a magister. And nearly killed ourselves in the process.” Ellana said.

“Until Max came along and somehow healed Ellana back to peak condition.” Cassandra said as everybody raised their eyebrows.

“I have an explanation for that. It’s weird, but hear me out. The thing is, I’ve got magic in my blood. Really strong magic. But, I can’t use that magic, for some reason. Inside this arm, there’s a spirit of power trapped that can amplify anything I want. So any kind of magic I want, the spirit can amplify, and make a lot more powerful.” Max said as silence rang throughout. 

“Does that mean that you’re a mage?” Bethany asked as Max shrugged his shoulders. 

“I guess, but I don’t know if I can get possessed. I’m going to have to test this out when we go back to Skyhold.”

“Right, that’s our next problem. How do we get to Skyhold?” Alistair asked as Max shook his head.

“We have enough time to figure that out. Since, you know, we don’t age in here.” Varric said as Stroud shook his head.

“We don’t know how the outside world will be affected by this. We must figure this out as quickly as possible.” He said as everybody shouted voices of approval.

 

“Okay then. First, we need to know where we are. Are we in the Fade? The real world? Where?” Hawke asked as Max perked his head up.

“We were just in the Fade. The black city was in the fade. Then you all popped down here when we blew the cage up. But I didn’t. I was stuck in a ‘Crossroads’ kind of place where apparently the elves that were supposed to guard the Blight were sent. Then, the spirit in my arm opened a portal to here, where we’ve been since. That shows that there’s more layers than just the world and the Fade. So what if we’re in another layer of reality?” 

“I just remembered something.” Lyna said as everybody looked at her. “When Tamlen and I went exploring for the eluvian, and Tamlen approached it, he said he saw something black. Black as the night. Was this place what Tamlen was talking about?” she asked as everybody looked around. The place they were in was very dark. Only the places where they were standing was highlighted, even then still faint. 

“If this is the place Tamlen was talking about, then there’s an Eluvian lying around here waiting to be opened.” Alistair said as Ellana came to a realization.

“And all Eluvians lead to the Crossroads. There’s an Eluvian in the Crossroads that leads to Skyhold. That’s it! That’s how we’ll get home!”

“How about we not forget the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of troops fighting darkspawn in Weisshaupt as we speak, and that if we go to Skyhold, they’ll get routed?” Oghren said as Ellana grimaced.

“Hold on. There’s an Eluvian at Weisshaupt that my team and I unearthed when I was there. We kept trying to activate it, but it never worked. Perhaps, if we did make it to the Crossroads, we could find an Eluvian that leads back to Weisshaupt.”

“That sounds like a plan.” Max said as everybody got back up. 

“Do we just walk? Or is there anything that could guide us?” Hawke asked.   
Ellana rubbed her ring three times to summon the Halla. That guided them last time. Maybe it’ll guide them again.

“I guess we just follow that,” Lyna said as everybody followed the Halla. 

  
  


Soon, after some walking, the Halla led them to an Eluvian. It was standing upright, and looked brand new. This would lead them to the crossroads, where they can use another one to get back to Weisshaupt.

 

“Merrill, can you open that?” Hawke asked as she nodded yes. 

“I’m going to need your help to transport us to the crossroads,” She told Max as he raised his eyebrows.

“How does that work?” 

“You think of the location, and I can tell the Eluvian to transport us there.”

“Right,” Max said as he thought about the Crossroads with all of his brain. The multitude of floating islands that are there, with blooming trees and bright sunshine. The many Eluvians that are there, that they can use. But wait. Wait a second.

“The Crossroads are under Solas’s control. We can’t open any of the mirrors without him knowing, even if we could in the first place!” Max exclaimed.

“I can open the mirrors, and I also have a spell that can mask us. Perhaps that can block Solas’s all-seeing vision,” Merrill suggested as Max nodded his head.

 

They went through the Eluvian to arrive in the Crossroads. Instantly, all the humans blocked the harsh sunlight, and shied away from the incessant ringing throughout the place. The elves, and surprisingly Max, were fine, and kept walking to find a working Eluvian.

 

“The one that goes to Skyhold is over there,” Max pointed as they walked over to it. Merrill analyzed it and the surrounding Eluvians.

“I figured it out!” Merrill screamed as everybody turned to her looking really surprised.

“All the Eluvians are grouped together by where they’re supposed to go. This is the Fereldan area,” Merrill pointed to where Skyhold’s eluvian was. 

“And this would be Orlesian, because the Eluvians in the Winter Palace led to here,” Ellana said, referring to the Exalted Council held just a year before.

 

“And they’re all near the bottom. So if we move towards the top, we should encounter Eluvians that lead to the north.” Hawke said as he walked up to an Eluvian near the very edge of the Crossroads. 

 

“If the Fereldan Eluvians were near the bottom right, and the Orlesian Eluvians were near the bottom left, that means that the Anders Eluvians would be at the top left, since the map of Thedas is as such,” Ellana said as they all approached the one Eluvian on the top left. 

 

“Are we willing to take this risk?” Stroud asked. “If Solas really does control all these Eluvians, and he’s fighting against us, what’s to say that he won’t just appear and obliterate all of us? Or what if we opened the wrong Eluvian, and we just pop into, say, Arlathan or something?”

 

“Those are risks, but we don’t have any other option,” Ellana replied. “This is the only way we can get back into the real world. If Max still had the mark, we could’ve opened a rift, but since he doesn’t, Eluvians are the only thing left that we can use. Unless you have a better option?”

 

Stroud shook his head as Merrill raised her hands to open the Eluvian. After some muttering, the Eluvian flashed blue, indicating that it was opened.

 

“Here goes nothing,” Hawke muttered as everybody walked through.

\-------------------------------------------------------------x------------------------------------------------------

**Markus**

 

One darkspawn down. Another one down. Three more coming. Five more in the distance approaching him. More and more darkspawn flooding at them. When will it end? Will they die first? Or the darkspawn?

 

“Markus, look out!” Dalish yelled next to him as Markus ducked and avoided the swing of a Hurlock’s swing. He bashed it with his shield, and severed its head with his sword. He saw Rock in the distance barreling through genlocks with his broadaxe, swinging away like a berserker. He could also see Rapier to his left flanking a mass of darkspawn and throwing bombs at them. He turned around to see Dalish healing a soldier.    
  


“You okay?” Markus asked as he walked over to Dalish. She got back up and faced him.    
“Yeah, I’m fine. We should probably get back to fighting, I can see Rock starting to lose,” she said as they ran back to Rock, who was starting to struggle. 

 

Markus threw his shield at the darkspawn, knocking them down one by one, with the shield ricocheting between them and finally returning back to him. Dalish cast a fire spell that burned all the darkspawn away. Rock finally sheathed his broadaxe and took a deep breath. 

  
“Holy shit, those were a lot of darkspawn,” Rock exclaimed as Markus and Dalish laughed. 

“Well, we are in Weisshaupt. And we’re Grey Wardens. So we’re pretty much darkspawn magnets in a place filled with darkspawn magnets,” Markus remarked as Rock shrugged her shoulders.

 

Suddenly, Dalish collapsed. Markus barely caught her, exclaiming in surprise.

“Hey, what happened?” Markus as Dalish woke back up and grimaced. 

“There was just, a burst in my head. Something happened. I could feel a huge amount of magic in here.”

“Huge amount of magic does not sound very good.” Rock said. “How about I stay here and take care of Dalish, while you take Rapier and Jowan to check it out?” 

“I don’t even know where Jowan is, but I’ll take Rapier and see,” Markus replied.

\------------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------------

**Rapier**

 

“Well, what do we have here?” Rapier asked as he and Markus stared. An Eluvian was there, in the most random of random basement rooms in Weisshaupt. Nothing else was there in the room, but the Eluvian. The room was barren, with stone walls and a stone floor. Suddenly, the Eluvian glowed, and a shockwave drove Markus and Rapier back, sending them to the floor. To their surprise, people started walking out of it. Rapier could see them cautiously step out and analyze their surroundings. There were a lot of people, twelve of them to be exact, that stepped out and crowded the room. And then one of them saw him.

\------------------------------------------------------x-------------------------------------------------------------

**Max**

 

“Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing here?” Max asked as he drew his tomahawks out and aimed it at the person’s throat. They were on the ground, looking extremely terrified. There were two people, one who was bald, and one who had long hair. Max noticed a sword and shield on the bald one’s body, and two daggers on the long haired one. 

 

“Max, stand down. These are Marcher Wardens who were fighting the darkspawn. They’re on our side,” Bethany said as Max sheathed his tomahawks and offered his hand to the long haired one. He took it and got back up.

 

“Rapier, what are you doing here? And where are the others?” Bethany asked as the bald one went to speak.

 

“Dalish said that there was a huge magic burst in here, so we came to check it out. And then you appeared. Out of thin air. From wherever you went. Where did you go, if I may ask?” 

“Don’t worry about that Markus. How’s the fighting?” 

“We’re slowly pushing the darkspawn out. The flame and lava dropped went down here and just killed all the broodmothers at once. The darkspawn were still alive, but half of them got wiped out. But, as you know, there were still a lot of darkspawn we had to fight. So we fought. And fought and fought. We saw you go into the castle, and a few hours later, you come back out. What gives?”

“A few hours? How many troops do we have left?” Max asked as Rapier shook his head.

“We still have a lot, but it’s slowly going down with the amount of darkspawn there are. With you all here however, the tides should hopefully turn in our favor.”

“Right then. We’ve got work to do.” Hawke said as he cracked his knuckles and ran out.

\------------------------------------------------------------x--------------------------------------------------

**Hawke**

 

Hawke charged out towards what was presumed to be the main courtyard of Weisshaupt. Signs of war could be seen everywhere. Fires were lit all over, with sounds of metal clanging on metal. Dead bodies were everywhere, be it darkspawn or Inquisition. 

 

“Let’s do this,” Hawke murmured as he pulled out his daggers and scanned the area. He could see Max and his group take the left, and Lyna and her group take the right. That only left one area.

 

“CHARGE!” Hawke yelled. 

 

He ran forward and twin fanged a hurlock. Turning around, he threw a dagger that found its mark on a genlock’s chest. Recovering it, he parried a slash and severed the head of another darkspawn. He then jumped back, and threw a potion towards a group of darkspawn that burned them alive, or dead, now that the potion wore off. 

 

“Watch out!” Hawke heard as he dodged a stab from a genlock rogue. It then got lit on fire from either Merrill or Bethany.

“Thanks!” Hawke yelled out as he took a potion that gave him an extra boost of energy for a long time. It was called beer from the Hanged Man.

 

Hawke kept fighting and fighting. Soon, he couldn’t focus on anything but the darkspawn in front of him. All the noises of war didn’t reach him. Pain didn’t register for him. Now, he was an unstoppable killing machine. And he was aiming for the darkspawn. 

\---------------------------------------------------------x---------------------------------------------------------

**Ellana**

 

Weird. Only a few minutes ago she was fatally stabbed by a rampaging magister. Now, she’s fine, and she’s fighting again. Weird how that works.

 

“Duck!” Someone yelled as she suddenly zoned back in and barely dodged a punch from an ogre. She then saw Max climb the ogre and slice its head off. 

 

“Jeez, what happened?” He asked as he jumped back down from the falling corpse.

“I don’t know. I zoned out, and then you yelled, then I zoned back in.”

“Be careful. I can’t bear to lose yo-” Max said as Ellana shushed him and gave him the look saying that they would speak later. 

 

She drew out her greatsword, and ran into an armory filled with fighting. Cracking her neck, she started swinging her sword, catching darkspawn after darkspawn and killing them. That gave the soldiers the huge boost they desperately needed, and soon all the darkspawn were on the ground, laying dead. 

 

“What’s the status of our troops?” Ellana asked an officer in the group.

“As far as I know, we’ve taken back the entire left half of the castle. The right half is still occupied, and we’re losing soldiers there.”

“Alright then, we know where we need to go,” Ellana said as the remaining people started for the right half.

\---------------------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------------------------

**Lyna**

 

Her group charged in without any plan. It’s not like they had a plan in the first place, but this was a particularly dangerous situation to wing it. The “plan” was to slash away and kill as many darkspawn as possible before they could die. Not dying would be better, but if they die at this time, they’ll take down as many as possible. 

 

She could see Oghren run around, scream, and blindly kill five darkspawn at once. She could also see Alistair and Stroud fighting back to back and kill darkspawn. 

 

*Alright, sneaky time,* Lyna thought as she disappeared and placed traps for the darkspawn.

 

Boom! Clang! Crash! 

  
The booby traps worked, and half of the darkspawn were wiped out. The army there killed the other half. They cheered as the last darkspawn fell. They won. They actually won without dying. 

 

Lyna turned around to see Max, Ellana, Varric, and Cassandra run in with another part of the army. 

“It’s over!” she shouted. “We won!”

With that statement, everybody started to cheer. Max and his group walked forward so that nobody could hear them. 

“What happened to Hawke and the others?” Max asked quietly.

“I don’t know where they are. Last I saw them was when we just came out of the basement. They ran straight forward, when we came here and you ran to the armory.”

“Should we go find them?”

“Let the soldiers stay here. We’ll go silently.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------x------------------------------------------------------

**Merrill**

 

Merrill breathed a long hard sigh. They had fought long and hard against the darkspawn. And they had won. 

Merrill peered at the dead bodies on the floor. Thankfully, nobody in their group had gotten severe injuries. Hawke was talking to Bethany about whatever. Varric was joking around with some of the troops in hopes of boosting their morale. And Merrill was sitting next to the castle wall, just staring at everything. 

 

“Is everything okay?” A gentle voice asked as Hawke sat down next to her.

“Yes. It’s just that I still can’t believe we won. Out there, I was scared. For Bethany. For Varric. For me. Especially for you.”

Hawke smiled. “The fight is over,” he said as he took Merrill’s hands into his own. “Pretty soon, once Max and Lyna are done, we’ll be able to go home.”

Merrill nodded and smiled. Suddenly she got back up.

“Max and Lyna are coming with the others.”

Hawke got up and saw Max, Ellana, Cassandra, Lyna, Alistair, Oghren, and Stroud approaching them. 

“What happened here?” Alistair asked.

“We won. We killed all the darkspawn.”

“Wait a minute. If Lyna and I and the others cleared the right, Max cleared the left, and you charged head on, does that mean that we won?” Max asked as everybody looked at him.

“Yes. Yes it does.” Stroud replied.

“Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. We won. We won!” Lyna exclaimed as it sunk into everybody that they won. 

“Well, I’ll go around and check on our troops.” Max said.

“I’ll go see that the basement is clear.” Lyna said.

“Alistair and I can check on the Grey Wardens.” Bethany said.

“Everybody else can help the troops pack up.” Hawke said as everybody dispersed.

\--------------------------------------------------------x-----------------------------------------------------------

**Max**

 

Half the Inquisition army was gone. Granted, Max still had about 40,000 men under his command, but that was only half of the army. That meant 40,000 people had died in this battle today. And that’s not even counting Grey Wardens.

 

“We fought a long and hard battle, Inquisitor.” Cullen said. “Troop morale is high now that we won, but we need to go home as quickly as possible. One so that the Taint doesn’t spread. Two so that the soldiers can see their families again.”

Max nodded. “We never saw you in battle Cullen. What happened?”   
Cullen laughed. “I sustained a costly injury from a hurlock. With that, the healer made sure to make me rest for a while so I didn’t die. Somehow, that rest took almost half a day, which is how long this battle took.”

Max raised his eyebrows. “Are you okay? Darkspawn blades are often infected with the taint. If you’re infected…”

Cullen shook his head. “I’m not. The healer brought in a Grey Warden to inspect if I was tainted. He said I wasn’t.”

“Alright. Anyways, I’ll go check up on the rest of the castle, then call the captains over to tell them how to get home. We’ll be staying here for a bit longer to help the Grey Wardens clean up.”

“Who would that ‘we’ include?”

“Me, you, Ellana, Cassandra, Hawke, Merrill, Bethany, Varric, Lyna, Alistair, Oghren and Stroud.”

Cullen nodded as Max walked away.

 

*Maker, this was a costly battle,* Max thought as he walked around and saw just what the darkspawn had done. The walls were all crumbled, reminding Max of Adamant and when they fought the demons there. Any signs of Grey Wardens were torn down, including banners, flags and that sort. Luckily, the fire and lava that they dropped in the beginning had all evaporated. So it didn’t burn anybody but the darkspawn. 

 

Finally, all the remaining captains of the army came to the courtyard, where Max had called them to discuss how to get the troops back home.

 

“Alright, now that you’re all here, I’m going to need to know how long it’s been since we started the battle.” Max asked.

One of the captains responded. “10 hours.” 

Max nodded his head. “That means our camp that we pitched outside are still up. And that means that our horses are still there. Each captain will take his part of the army back to Skyhold. Follow the route that we took to come here, and stay safe.”

The captains bowed their heads and left. All except for one.

“Inquisitor, I have something to show you,” Captain Thorin said. 

“What is it?” 

“It’s some intel on Fen’harel’s whereabouts. Nothing much, just basic rumors about locations and army sizes and such.”

Max nodded as he took the slip of paper and quickly skimmed through it.

What he did not notice was that the elven captain had drawn out a poisoned knife and went to stab him. Max felt a sharp pain erupt in his lower ribs as he dropped the paper and looked at the captain. He looked down to see a medium-sized knife stabbed completely near his stomach and right above his abdomen. 

“You really think you know anything about Fen’harel? You really don’t.” The captain said as he laughed. 

“He knows everything about you and your organization though. How to penetrate it. How to gain information from it. Who’s who. And most importantly, what you’re doing every single second. So you can’t even fuck the round-ear slut that always walks around with you without us knowing.”

He drew the knife out as Max gasped sharply again and fell over onto his back. 

“May the dread wolf take you, you fucking shem,” the captain said as he spit on him and walked away. Yellow dots filled his vision, making him want to throw up the entirety of any of his meals. 

Max slowly started to crawl over to anybody that could help him. He was in the courtyard. In the hub of Weisshaupt.

“Somebody help!” Max cried as the hubub of the army masked his dying voice. 

*Must… not…. Give… up.* Max thought as he kept crawling. He couldn’t feel his feet anymore. His head felt like someone was driving a nail into it. Sweat poured out of his body. 

“Help! I’m hurt!” Max yelled as his throat closed up. Max suddenly struggled to breathe, with a sharp pain in his heart suddenly appearing.    
He turned over, not being able to move. His eyes were heavier than the stone that made up the walls. His body was failing him, and he was dying. 

*Is this it?* Max thought. *I survive Corypheus, the mark, and a shit ton of darkspawn to die by one of Fen’harel’s agents poisoning me? Not the ending I was expecting or wanted, but okay.*

His eyelids slowly shut as he could faintly hear screaming and yelling. Yelling at who, he didn’t know, but he didn’t care. This was it.


End file.
